I guess I am just naive I thought everyone was visiting around the other posts and featured posts. One of the reasons I skipped a week was to reserve SP for participation in something different this week.
That said I think a scavenger hunt would help with that some maybe hide a certain pic or something in a comment. Maybe make broader participation a condition of winning that prize. Maybe not a pic maybe a quote then there would be a lot of reading if it is a good prize.

But to come up with three new people searching areas that interest me takes hours. I read a lot of posts that are poorly put together or do not interest me despite liking the topic before finding three I feel comfortable submitting. I don't see myself having the time to curate subjects that hold zero interest for me, and would feel like a fake submitting posts that held no interest for me.

I agree. I am keeping an eye out for for feature potential in advance. To go back and try to fit that into a theme would be hopeless for me to even attempt. I think getting ones that fit into any theme at all deserves bonus points. I can't imaging working with something preset.
I may be wrong but it seems either participation or quality would likely suffer.
I will keep an eye on what you come up with I hope to jump back in on the next round. It is a perfect way to do a little something extra for someone and find some new friends as well.