I'm not a member either Paul, load up with the boys and come on over!
Here is what appears on their website, so let's not mislead anyone.
This alone would be enough to keep me from entering anything .
Personally I think that paying the entry fee should be enough to enable any modeler to enter his build.
From IPMS site :
I. ELIGIBILITY
1. The IPMS/USA National Contest is open only to members of IPMS/USA or
other national IPMS branches. Any current member of IPMS/USA or any
other national branch of IPMS is eligible to enter any number of models in the
National Contest. A member may also serve as a ‘proxy’ to enter models for
an absent member who is not attending the convention. Entry fees for
absentee/proxy entrants may be set at the discretion of the Host Chapter. All
entries except Chapter/Group entries must be the sole work of the individual
whose name is on the model-entry form. Commercially built and/or finished
models that do not require significant additional work by the modeler will be
ineligible.