There's definitely a crowd that gets special privileges, so it would not be surprising.
Meh.. just ignore the contests. the prizes are usually cheap tchotchkes anyway. or, enjoy them but don't put much value or importance on them, lol. If a clique gets special treatment, nothing you can do about it anyway. Rarely does this sort of thing have integrity anyway... I used to work at a place where the 'contest' was just a lead generator. The best sales lead won each month. It wasn't randomly chosen, lol. Old scam, nothing new