Hello @malloryblythe. I got to know about this contest from @davemccoy's post. I am happy to participate. I wrote about the moment that convinced me to stay on steemit. Here is the link to my post
https://steemit.com/contest/@cheekah/a-lifeline-for-the-drowning
Getting noticed on Steemit is hard, getting noticed by those with upvote power is harder. So it's definitely a relief when that time does come - I've also noticed that contests can pay off more than actual posts... (and just the winning itself is pretty fun)
Anyway, congratulations on making it this far, and hope your earnings grow exponentially!
Thank you.
Contests do appear to be the best way to make some money, but you can certainly make a little bit using upvote bots. There are some great videos about how to use SteemBotTracker to earn the most. I would suggest you google those!