I think pastet89 is right as it is was never stated in OP that he can not take part of the contest and he honoured the rules from the begining, keeping the signature till the end. Obviously he would have not edited his signature if he has was not planning to participate.
Furhtermore, usually contests which clearly states organisators can not participate include element of a raflle as people can say at the end that the raffle was fixed. In this case there was even not a raffle so no one can rise this question. Pastet89 has followed all the rules in the OP, has not broke any rule (only one rule for not participating was being a Newbie, nothing else), and has made most posts during the contest period which anyone can check by reviweing the users profile in Bitcointalk. Therefore IMO here everything is more than clear.
 
Just my 2 cents...