[PubQ] Querying agents who have also been competition judges
So here's a thing...I want to enter a novel competition but one of the judges is someone I have on my future "to query" list...what's the protocol with something like this? I never expect to get anywhere in competitions, a long-listing would be the dream at best to bolster my query letter, but what if you get nowhere in the comp and then query one of the judges? Loads of these comps only list a couple of judges but these are all busy, professional people - surely they can't be reading everything to reject it? There must be layers of readers the entries must go through first? That said, if your entry does get as far as a judge but you don't get any further, would you look like a goon for then querying them as if the comp attempt never happened?
TIA