GPS, I feel your pain when it comes to the pot-hydroponics misconception held by much of the public. Now I don't care what people do in their own private time and what plants they grow, but I don't enjoy having everyone assume I'm a pot grower. One of my stock lines to naysayers is: "Saying all hydroponics growers grow pot is just like saying all priests molest children." Though a crude statement, it drives the point home that everyone in a particular group (e.g. hydroponics growers, priests) aren't the same. That said...back on topic...
I'm not so much personally interested in organizing a competitive gardening competition or competing strictly against other hydroponics growers per se. I've noticed that most of the competitive gardeners use soil-based methods. While this might be appropriate for some crops, I feel that hydro is the way of the future for growing bigger and longer crops than our soil compatriots. One competition I might enter this year is the heaviest tomato competition at the state fair. It won't require much change in my plans - I'm already growing plenty beefsteak varieties appropriate for such an endeavor, so it'll just require losing the yield on a few plants to go after a competition-size mater. Even if I don't win (although I am fairly confident in my methods, hence chances), it'll be a great little display at the farmer's market: check out this whopper! Anything that can catch the eyes of potential customers is good in my book.
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