I agree with Jad and Kraco here as well, contests that are open to as many people as possible are the best. With a sig contest the members that can do it is some what limited. As well if something was to be given to them because they have PS skills, I may as well give prizes for other skills that others have.

Now

Quote Originally Posted by NarutoMaster
I personally liked the signature contest where two people would be making a sig for someone to actually use. Back then we did it for people who had the ugliest sig but technically we could've done it for anyone if they volunteered. And then that person would vote for the better sig and he/she gets to keep it while the winning sig-maker moves onto the next round. The reward can be a custom title or something.
Gotwoot Makeover, I remember that as well (as I was one of those that had a really bad sig, in those days) it was challenging because not only did the person that the sig was made for have to pick the theme, but they got to pick the better one.Like the above example though most likely those skilled in PS will win.

How about this. We do the sig contest on a 3 tier system, Beginner, Experienced, Expert. That way anyone can pick their skill level and be facing those that are at the same skill level. We can have a sign-up thread made so people can see if a person needs to be in a different tier or not. For the contest something like 3-4 rounds with a poll to see the winner. Each round however gives points for the places a member gets. Something like 5 points for 1st, 3 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd, and after the 3-4 rounds we tally the points and compare it. It's possible that the overall winner is one that in any of the tiers with the most points.

Each round would have a theme made before hand however not revealed to those playing (as they could start on the sigs before hand before others and come out on top because they had more time to work on it) however taken out of a pool of suggested themes.

Prizes can be custom titles for those who win at their tiers and custom color for that person that is the overall winner. (I'm going to be looking into the possibly of having a bigger sig and/or bigger avatar, I can't make any promises but it's a idea)

As for the bigger contest Woofcat is on the right track as well as Kraco it has to be something simply everyone can have a equal footing on. Trivia is one option (As much as I like to use IRC, some may not or will not use a client for this, so not exactly equal)