This is more than likely due to the banner being dropped promoting it at the top of the forum. I did this primarily because I wanted to test the response of having a banner in this position, rather than Google Ads. I also have marketed the competition via email to all members which is something I usually do.

I'm going to extend the competition, probably by two weeks, and put the promotional banner back up. If any of the existing article submissions have a serious issue with the extension, let me know.