I cannot see a real comparison between UIL Solo & Ensemble contests and auditions for Region/Area/State Performing groups. There was a time in my ancient youth that judging panels for various levels of All State auditions were done with face to face panels. Being the arrogant young person that I was I would always wear my my school letter jacket or a school sweater displaying all my All Region/Area/State patches for the judges and especially for my competition. Through my career I was glad to see the transition to anonymous judging panels. Witnessing the conversations between UIL judges and students has not changed much. There has always seen the recruitment by college directors and unless they are excluded from UIL judging it will probably remain in practice forever. That has been a good thing for my students coming from a small remote school. Setting up possible scholarship possibilities was great.