No concept will be submitted in exactly the same way, with exactly the same configuration, with exactly the same documentation.
I would think that if similar concepts were submitted by two different people, that the one(s) which have the best polish will likely come out on top of the others.
That said, I'll leave those decisions up to our distinguished panel of judges. We have some seriously smart judges IMO:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/challenge/judges.html
The judging criteria are at:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/challenge/prizes.html
The challenge rules (with more judging criteria) are at:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/challenge/rules.html
The judging criteria state that the following will be judged:
1) What does the appliance do and what unique value does it provide to the intended audience (50%)
2) Innovative use of virtualization technology (25%)
3) Size of the appliance relative to functionality and performance (25%)
Although I didn't write these criteria, they look to be written so that if similar designs are submitted (to be expected), there will be a way to choose between those similar designs.
I hope this helps Ulli 
-Daryll
I don't believe that WHEN you turn in the appliance matters to the judges, except if you don't turn it in by the May 26 due date.
We are expecting to get a whole bunch of highly polished appliances on the last few days of the submission Get it as polished as you can, but don't miss the due date
-Daryll
