i am no art student, so i try to give a layman's input.
lets say salon photography where there are the most number of judging criteria eg, the lighting must be dramatic (intense side/back light), background must not be distractive (usually black), subject must be beautiful and interesting (a lady in red holding a red umbrella / a old lady with very deep wrinkles all over her face), pin sharp, well exposed... ...
so, this is old school. many view it as stagnant.
so, someone decides to break all the rules. top light, messy background, boring subject staring squarely into the viewfinder, blur, wrongly exposed... ... and call it creativity or contemporary.
if u read AmateurPhotographer, u will noticed tat many major award winning photographs are "contemporary". so advanced, such tat many established photographers, when told to comment on them, admitted that they "catch no balls". it is believed tat, sponsors deliberately choose controversial images to increase their own exposure.