I'm starting up a programming forum, and need ideas for some contest prizes. I need a few at different levels, right now I've thought something like a subscription to oreillylearning.com for a year (giving the winner access to all the books). Not sure if this would do the job in attracting visitors, and visitors to sign up - just a bit dull - and people who are posting quite a bit wouldn't necessarily find the books a whole lot more useful.
I need something that gives a bit more 'bang for buck' - can anyone think of any? What would get your toes all tingly and signup? It's going to be for a mixture of things, like posting, referring, helpful articles/blog mentions. Cash is a bit boring on itself, I will be giving out cash prizes but don't want all the prizes to me cash.
Php classes does something similar, they have a monthly code contest with prizes. These include One downloadable copy of Komodo Pro, One book of choice by SAMS, One book of choice by O'Reilly, One downloadable copy of Roadsend PHP Compiler, One subscription to the PDF edition of the magazine by PHP Architect and One book of choice by Packet.