I want to ditto what Daryl said about subject matter of the video. I was going to say it sooner but was too chicken.  

Rather you are creating shows/scripts for regular use or for something like this you have to really look at your target audience.  In this case it was a secular contest so you need to keep that in mind.  As we have seen even here in the past there are some negative stereotypes associated with church puppetry.  People can be put off by what they see as preaching and not really look or listen any further. In this case also since adults where doing the judging, it might have been a smart move to gear the content more adult based.  I don't mean blue content but something that would appeal to adults. You remember all the old cartoons like Flintstones, Tom and Jerry etc.... they all have sub text (and again I don't mean it has to be blue) that adults appreciate.

Thanks for the info guys!  As far as the eye contact, I think it was with the videoing...that is one of my pet peeves too!  I am constantly on my team about it, and it's never been a problem for me. 
Oh well, next time I will know.  However, we'll be leaving for Poland in March, and not coming home til September, so not sure if I will have time to enter again.
It was fun to do it anyways.  ;-)
Sara

How to achieve eye contact with a camera is by having a TV hooked up to the camera so you can see yourself and see when you have eye contact with the camera....it is pretty impossible to do other wise....that is the difference between theatre and video work. 

Well keep making video's and keep sending them into competitions it is always great to see everyones work and creations.

Daryl H