Why was this thread title posed in the form of a question? Are you asking the people of PSC if this is what is truly bothering you? Well, in that case, let me help...
It is not the Advantage membership that is bothering you. Now that you have been given Advantage membership, you will soon discover this truth yourself. Spending more time with these images will not bring you happiness. You will still be bothered. You will still find excuses for losing and people to blame (and oftentimes hate). I have seen multiple members win contests without Advantage and many of those wins were with entries that went up a full day after the voting opened.
What is bothering you is that the vision you have in your head is not being properly conveyed in your work. When you look at what you have created, your brain knows what it wants to see, so it eliminates or corrects minor errors. Perspective is a big one. Try flipping your images upside down or doing a vertical flip and check to see if the perspective still makes sense. Lighting and shadows are huge cues to the brain for depth and proportion. If they are slightly off, things won't look natural.
I looked at your portfolio so far. It's been primarily cut and paste work; one part of an image inserted into another image. If you only do one thing, you better make it perfect if you want to win. Unfortunately, your work is not perfect. There are perspective issues and lighting issues in every one.
I would recommend looking at past winning entries to see how they won. An entry can be riddled with all sorts of issues, but if it humorous enough or creative enough, it can win. Play to the crowd a bit, too. Use cute animals and have them doing people things. Or make a dreamy, post modern scene with tons of lighting flare and yellow filters.
If you really want to win, make as many friends as you can around here and always vote for their stuff, no matter how terrible it is. A few "guilt" votes can make the difference between first and fourth
