One thing I thought of.. If you wanted to do a competition was, and you could incorporate placed caches or new ones.. Was you could assign a points value of each cache dependant on the ratings.. Like 5 points for a super hard caches and 1 for an easy cache. To prove you went to the cache you could either have a code word, or token or punch card, whatever.. You could also divide the state up into smaller regions, and then limit the number of caches you could find in each region.. Like you could find 5 total in each region (example only) then if there were lots of caches to choose from (this is where exisiting caches would fit in) people could pick to do five easy ones, or five super hard ones or mix and match. Of course which caches you picked would determine how many points you earned. Then everyone could hit their skill level, as not everyone cares to do "make you think" or "make you work out" type caches.. so more people might be encouraged to participate, and people could only do the caches in their area if they so chose, or if they couldn't do a state-wide type thing. You could also, of course, set a time limit.. ie.. 1 weekend to complete everything, or 1 week, or 1 month... Depending how long you want to give people.
Then if you are planning prizes (not sure but I think I read that somewhere in this thread) you could award raffle tickets, the more points you had the more tickets you get. You could also give out out certificates to people for achieiving a certain points levels. There could also be one (or more) grand prize winner who recieves a trophy or something like that. (You could do a dash for the cache or something in the event of a tie.) I think more people would be encouraged to participate if they didnt neccesarily HAVE to do every single part. As some people are limited in their ability they may be inadvertently excluded if they had to do something really really hard to "complete" the event. The great thing about geocaching is so many different types of people can do it.
Anyway, I really like the idea of a state-wide type event/contest. With enough notice (and good weather) I may come down from Rochester, NY to participate. (Sorry for being so long winded)
Those who play for fun, or not at all, dismiss it as a game. The ones who commit their lives to it, for the most part, insist that it's a science. It's niether.
Might give it longer before diving into it... maybe the end of December? That gives us 3 weeks to get through the holidays, come up with more ideas, and allow new people to come in. I'll try to keep the gc.com forum thread "live" by bumping it from time to time as well as providing brief updates.
I'm sure we could use your help out that way!