You fill out the application, mail it in, and it seems like it's gone into never-never land, lost forever, never to be seen or heard from again. Having an understanding of the basic judging process may help you to improve your odds of winning. Every organization that offers a scholarship has their own way of judging the applications they receive.
Some organizations open up applications as soon as they are received.
Others will simply let the applications pile up in a corner of the office, waiting until the deadline date. Some organizations are very organized. They will enter each application into a log book as it arrives, assign it a number, and keep track of it. Some applications might, unfortunately, be lost, probably ending up in the same place that your socks go after they enter the dryer. Either way, eventually, someone is going to open up the applications.