Without requiring up voting, without requiring following, without requiring re-steaming – as you say to someone else, it's just giving stuff away, and that itself is somewhat problematic. You're bribing an audience. You're paying for the attention. And the people engaged are willing to whore themselves out, or at least their eyes, for just a little scratch.

I see where you come from, especially with the bribing part. But personally, I lean towards Give away or don't, the moment you have the conditions, you are taking payment (even a follow or resteem are a form of payment), at which moment your contest becomes a lottery with only one winner: the self-serving one who more often than not claims to give back to the community, which is at that moment a fallacy, a hoax.

Rather than contest may as well call it Plea for upvotes, resteems, and follows then because that is what each contest becomes/is at heart.

I would actually enjoy finding some sort of once or twice a week writing prompt account to follow. No contest, nothing really required (except maybe a link back to the original from your post), just a writing prompt – and at the end of every post cycle, a little bit of a round up by the creator of some cool things that they saw all written under that prompt for that period.

Start it. :)

I'm sure in your circle you have Steemians who will also promote it to give it initial traction.