How do I style the names of contests?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

Names of titled contests are set roman without quotation marks:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science announced the tenth annual Dance Your Ph.D. contest.

When the contest takes the form of a generic description, however, lowercase it:

Martha won the school’s pie-baking contest hands down.