Age #discrimination among the Photo world (#Hearst #photo contest)

For visual artists, participating in contests is a means of furthering one's career.  Maybe similar to a film getting a good write up from a critic, or an actor's nomination/win for an award.  If this is the industry standard, then how is it some of these contests have an age limit?  PDN's 30, used to be called PDN's 30 under 30.  The business of commercial photography is such that many of these artists don't make it 'out of the gate' until well into their 30's or even later.  Unlike the world of pop music which is very focused on the young and even younger (Justin Beber example), most household name photographers are well into their years.  After years of hearing complaints on the subject, #PDN changed their rule of 'under 30' and expanded the (PDN 30) contest to include all emerging photographers.  Unfortunately there are still some contests that have these age restrictions.  The #ADC's  young guns', which does not offer an alternative for emerging artists above 30.  The #Hearst biennial is another example http://hearst8x10.com/
If you are in the 'business' please feel free to comment.  I would love to hear from all sides:  the under 30 emerging artist, the over 30 emerging artist, the companies who create the contests, and so on.