For the character making contest... Do you think I should make it so people would have to make characters around a theme?
That is a nice idea, especially because doing a character design contest with a there related to an event like Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc would be really cool.
Some ideas for themes:
-Event themes: I've mentioned them before
-Elemental theme: Creating a character that is related to an element like fire, wind, water, etc
-Fantasy or mythology theme: Creating a character that is related to fantasy stories or myths.
-Cute theme: Creating a really cute character.
-Warrior theme: Creating a character that looks like a warrior. It must wear at least one weapon like a sword, a knife, a gun, or something similar to that.