How about this for an idea for a themed competition: -
Run over 10 rounds – 1/month with the theme being announced in the last week of the previous month so you don’t get much advance notice.
Themes to be chosen so that anyone with any equipment stands an equal chance, rather than favouring those with the budget for the latest dSLR or long fast lenses
Maybe members should suggest themes but the competition organiser decides and announces each month.
Entries must be shot in the month in question (evidenced by the camera exif data) so people must go out and shoot new photos rather than picking their best from previous.
Voted for by the members on the basis of if you could have a print of just one of the entries hanging on your wall, which would you choose. Points allocated to, say, the top 10 after votes have been cast eg 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4…
Find some sponsors to provide a small prize for each monthly winner and some really super prizes for the top 3/5 with the greatest number points at the end of the year!
Obviously people don’t have to enter every round but this might get us out of our comfort zones as the more rounds one enters, the more chance of scooping one of the star prizes at the end of the year.