He posted 18 renders and a video. Still believe it was not a render? Perfect then, as madcoo mentioned, this is the best compliment you could make about his work. Accuracy of materials and realistic output is probably what RS is looking for the promotion of Octane.
Cheers,
Yoyoz
PS: I used his blend file to debug my new exporter a couple of weeks ago, shortly after the competition. True and splendid work.