Although I participate in 'tightly contested' writing competitions a lot, the kind of contests I organize are those where almost everyone wins. I typically just throw out a question and invite people to share their views. Add a Steem bounty of 300 Steem and I think even the professional writers will be interested in dropping a comment.

With that, you simply have to vote bars on how much you like each person's reply. at the end, everyone gets something.

For a serious writing contest, I would suggest 50 SBD as bounty so all entrants can get something. and the remaining 250 will be reserved for best entries, say the top five entries ,with each level getting something higher.