[madoublet]

The idea this is unfair or "spec" work seems silly to me. As a professional, you do a ton of stuff that you don't get paid for: attending classes, building your skillset, designing your portfolio, writing your resume, creating concepts, etc., etc. This is simply a fact of life.

[ktsmith]

It's not simply a fact of life. These types of application processes are no different than saying "There is a $200 application fee."