So here is an idea for a curation contest:
Start with a prompt topic, ideally of the elastic kind, which could be interpreted in various ways, such as Life finds a way or Caring for your best friend. Then have contestants search recent Hive posts (that can still receive votes) that could fit into this topic (somehow). Have them upvote and comment on that post, and link it into your contest, while explaining the reason why they picked that particular post. Not sure about how scoring and winners would be worked out, but it seems to me that by sharing content, you'd ultimately give their authors more exposure, creating overall value.