Can I only note that the entries people saw here are only a minority?
You have to remember that this contest was not strictly geared towards those in the forums. It was wide-spread. A lot of people posted on social media, and a lot of people just chose to keep their designs secret and submit them.
Yes, there are 600 entries, but just how many of them did we actually see?
Me personally? I was going to decide to keep my design secret. No one was going to see it until I chose to. I wouldn't doubt there were others like me who felt the same, but just went all out and never showed anyone until the end.
It would've helped to get a more basis on what they were looking for, but at the same time -- it was already geared to be a small percentage anyhow. Only 3 were going to make popular choice, and only one would be a winner.
This is no different from Webtoons picking only 8 possible winners from the thousands of entries (it it was around 6000?) they got for their contest in 2018.
It doesn't mean the people who weren't picked didn't have good designs, and it doesn't mean the people who were picked don't deserve being there. I still voted for my top three and thought they were all pretty cute. Maybe that's just me.
But the contest isn't even over yet. And like others have said, they might just post a grand profile of the rest of the submissions -- like an honorable mention. It might help to just wait until everything's over before we start making assumptions.