On one hand:

• the prestigious prize of 150 Steem for winning Openmic is huge and it's one of the largest ongoing contest prizes that I know of on Steemit! So that is something to consider.

• 75 for 2nd and 3rd is also a pretty sweet prize worthy of the effort it probably takes to do some of these entries. When I look back, some of my entries took more than 20 hours to get together lol.

On the other hand:

• I also know the lack of rewards pain well having run Steemit Sandwich Contest for a measly 15 weeks.

• Initially, I only had 2 prizes, that wasn't enough and even with 3 (currently) I still don't think it's enough lol... too many worthy entries come in and I feel so terrible that I can't reward them through the contest that I end up dishing out my own SBD sometimes to show them love.

• So if that's similar to the feelings amongst all the judges, then perhaps including a 4th and 5th prize is the next step in Openmic evolution and a good idea...

I'm pretty sure this didn't help at all hahah ;)