when is a Puppy a Sad Puppy?

I was reading a blog post about the National Book Award nominees in the children's/YA division, and I learned that a publisher submits titles for consideration, and that he/she must pay to do so. This limits the number of entries, especially from small and struggling publishers.
So then I thought, "hey! why not a crowd-funded effort to provide a fund these underfunded publishers can use?" That seemed like a great idea, but now I worry that that's how the Sad Puppies got started. Hmmm.