Chris, no, it does not need to be sanctioned to be a Jack Qualifier.
From my experiences, not all KCBS events have 100% CBJs either. I know at each event, we try to get as many CBJ's as we can. Since November, we now have a larger pool of CBJ's here in Arizona. I don't ever think that Judging is an afterthought, but it is something we will pay closer attention to in the future.
Playing Devil's Advocate, the odds of most teams going to the Jack or even getting into a position to be in the draw are minimal, so with that in mind, teams would rather see a larger payout of money going deeper into the field so that more of them got a chance to walk and make back some of their money. Yes, maybe when teams get to a level where they are winning on a regular basic this could change. Heck, even if most teams were to win GC at an event and get drawn for the Jack, the odds of most of them having the time available or the money to make the trek back to the Jack would be mimimal.
I personally like the idea of having more "Official" State Championship events as in the slight chance I do win GC at one of them, I do get the opportunity to go into the draw. So, if I am at an event with 15 - 20 teams, my odds are better than at 40 - 50 teams. I know my team and I have worked very hard for the past 3 years to get more than one "Official" State Championship BBQ Cook-off here in the state and we fully plan on taking advantage of using them. Not only is it great for you the competitors, but it's also great for our Sponsors to be involved with such a Prestigist designation.
Don't get me wrong, I like having an event sanctioned by the KCBS, but to me, the benefits do not outweigh the costs, and if they do, I just don't see them at this point. If we have an "Official" State Championship competition offering a $10,000 prize fund with AZBarbeque sanctioning and a simliar "Official" State Championship competition offering a $5000 prize fund but sanctioned by the KCBS, I would be very surprised if the KCBS one had more competitor entries than the AZBarbeque sanctioned one.
Case in point is our first year Lake Pleasant event, we had 52 teams at, then last year, with a bigger prize fund, more local teams and KCBS Sanctioning, we only had 47.