I love the idea of competitions and contests, as they could really help out newer artists, and even older, more experienced artists to challenge themselves and create something new and unique. Having the community decide is also a nice addition, as the most popular, and therefore generally better piece, will be noticed, and that artist could get recognition for it. There seems to be at least some new activity, myself included, here, and maybe the competitions are what A&D needs to really kick things off again, and attract more attention. Perhaps a weekly contest that had an announcement like the tournaments do when you log in?
I like the idea of an emblem as a prize, but it could lose incentive for winners to keep competing. And while immediately after they win that's not such a bad thing, it also means that's one less person competing later on, and you've then begun to lose people interested in the contests and competitions. Even if more people swarm in, if the prize isn't something continuously worth competing for, people will stop competing eventually. I think that perhaps winners could receive a spotlight for their Gallery, art or the winning piece, perhaps in the form of a pinned post or again, an announcement. I'm not overly familiar with how all these things may work, I'm just brainstorming here, but if you want ideas, I'm more than happy to give them.