When I first joined a photo club and started entering comps, one of the things I was curious about was how much manipulation and editing are you expected to do?
It seems the answer is "quite a lot." and I recall occasions where judges have said "you should have cloned this out" or "you should have moved this from here to there" so it seems we are coming from completely different areas. I know that with some wildlife images editing is frowned upon, but I've seen lots that have obviously been cropped and had backgrounds replaced. Not every one has the skill (or opportunity) to compose a perfect shot in camera and sometimes it's not possible to remove those poles and straws from a shot. I can't think of many of my own images that haven't at the very least been cropped. If you shoot raw (who doesn't?) you are faced with decisions on white balance, exposure and contrast as soon as you enter the develop module, so does that not constitute editing?
In the case of the OP's example, a small amount of editing can improve a grab shot considerably. If the photographer had tried to rearrange the sitters, change the viewpoint and generally act like a photographer, it would have ruined the spontaneity of the shot.
A very simple edit can improve the image considerably.
By not editing you are missing out on a substantial part of the image creation process.