It is a valid observations, but I wouldn’t say it that categorically. There is more than one dynamics (process) that is at play.
Yes, when the same few teams keep taking home all awards at every local competitions it would have somewhat negative effect on the runner up teams. My team is one such example - we could only win Design or Champions (and we did) when several of the best teams in the state do not attend the competition. It is not easy to motivate my team to maintain good notebook if they know they have no chance when those other teams attend.
But, on the other hand, those few teams that hit it out of the park every single time, provide a lot of inspiration and motivation to the rest of the community, by demonstrating what is possible and multiple posters above confirm that.
I could see some of the kids dropping out of the program, but I worry more about kids who want to stay and learn, but don’t have access to the good curriculum. Their time is not used efficiently, me miss opportunity to give them knowledge, when they are eager to learn it.
I’ve written about this before, that by tweaking the award system, RECF could significantly improve the amount and quality of material that students will learn.
Last year kids on Discord had some good time laughing at the suggestion to give merit badges or mini awards to the teams that could achieve a certain task, like high-scoring a game object. I think that could be very effective tool that puts more emphasis on learning important skills for beginner teams on their own pace. Everyone is still welcome to compete for tournament champs when they get on that level.