FD has power multipiers and bonus point categories but sections/states are not mults.  Nor are actual logs submitted, so there is no adjudication [log checking].  Different folks view FD differently.  If you keep score, some say it's automatically a contest.  The one thing FD definitely provides is a chance to experience HF, CW, and SSB for clubs/hams that are mainly shack-on-the-belt oriented.  It's also been the spark for a great number of young folk over the years, which is good, so whether or not it is a contest is somewhat of an empty argument.

73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

Oh yes... The "Not a Contest- Exercise" (read contest-Hi-Hi), that keeps every non-WARC HF Band FILLED with wall to wall contacts around the clock,and lets me make several hundred other hams happy evry "last weekend in June, because I'm in the (dare I say it...) RARE MULT" of Wyoming.  After several hours of hand writing my non LOTW QSL requests following Field Day,...believe me when I say that it sure feels like a contest! "If it walks like a Duck..."

73,

N7MZW

Chuck Williams

Cheyenne, WY.