>Are we writing roles to explain character traits and choices
>or are we writing roles to entertain Immortals with a hope of
>getting a nice prize?

I'd say the former, because it's always of help to you; conversely, whether or not an imm will pick your role as a winner is highly subjective and based on the judge -- they may like long story roles, they may hate long story roles, etc.

(Which is one of the reasons we try really hard to rotate who judges these days -- lots of different kinds of roles have a chance to shine.)