What I meant was that the winners copied from both these designs. Am I only one to see that?
No. But they did not copy the codes.
No offence, I have seen many instances in which the winners here, who will copy the concept quite easily and distinguish it with a different design. They post their designs towards the end of the contest so as to take maximum advantage of competitors and already has a good reputation base.
I honestly prefer certain other submissions over the current winning ones. Even if they put some common design as they usually do, they will be seen as done something impressive.
Here are some suggestions to avoid this:
1. Post your design as an image. this has been adopted by many participants quite lately. But image or not, the professionals never copy the code, they copy the design and distinguish it professionally.
2. Post your design around the end of the contest or face the risk of losing the contest to them, making a better, distinguished version of the same.