Ritter, when he made the topic this time around, did something I think was successful-- a nice, simple theme that people found accessible. This got us a lot of entries even before our heavy hitters made submissions, haha... The very strict start-and-end times also seem to have helped us (even though we were a day late in getting the poll up) because it gave people something to aim for.
Maybe it was a fluke, haha. But I'm impressed with the entries and discussion in the thread, and I'm grateful for your keeping the torch going when the contest needed a reboot :)
serious response to your not-serious question, but that's what you get!!!