That contest sounds ridiculous and pathetic, but I’m guessing that it was either free or very inexpensive to enter, rather than costing hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.

How about a contest based on correlating song lyrics, liner notes, and music videos, that is solvable only by John Nash in the throes of psychosis and is rewarded with a grove of trees in England? If I’d solved it, would I have at least gotten a free plane ticket so that I could go visit my trees?