Publishing the pizzas anonymously would require more effort in coming up with the best way to do it, and in my opinion it is going to reduce the fun in the contest.
It would also remove the incentive of joining to earn Merit, but I agree it makes it less fun.
Since you cannot be certain of the reason why a member is joining the contest, then i don't think it is a bad idea if the participants earn merits from their submissions. Take note they'll be putting in time, money and effort into it, and i am sure the bad entries would earn no merits or votes, so if the good entries earn merits, then it is great in my opinion and can qualify as a 'good or quality post'. You of all people shouldn't be complaining of this, you have so much smerits that you have been 'struggling' to send out, this could be a good opportunity, no?.
Meanwhile, I have 4000 sMerits waiting for worthy posts.