Resteeming now before I even start searching. I concur with @chops316's sentiments.

There is one other thing that I can think of, but this is more commentary/observation than suggestion. This contest is designed to make people think, to put in some effort in pursuit of the prize(s). Here on Steemit though, I've noticed a tendency for a large portion of the masses to think that "effort" = "work", and the moment the word "work" comes up they run for the hills. Unfortunately on too many occasions, a contest that requires only a few seconds of "effort" has proven to be far more popular than one may call for a few minutes of effort, even if the math (via expected value) says that everyone and their entire family should be participating in the contest that requires more effort from its entrants.

All I can really suggest is to hang around and hope that by having a consistent presence on Steemit you will eventually get noticed. I've heard something about a "yunk" tag that supposedly has a few whales lurking over it... who knows, maybe you should do a cryptography question that uses "yunk" as one of the steps (or even part of the final solution), then use the "yunk" tag for that week's contest. Maybe you'll get lucky and hook a whale that way.