Hello @davonicera,
Thanks for your kind words on my article brother! I hope yours gets evaluated fast too. :)
I am much like you, a good part of my Steem have come from originalworks only and they are fair. But the really interesting part is the knowledge that you acquire. Every month four new blockchain concepts, in the last 5 months, 20 new concepts and how they work and their benefit to the users. Can you imagine yourself going through 20 new concepts for no particular reason? Maybe you do but not me. Thanks to originalworks, I at least know 20 new blockchain concepts. And I am following a few of them.. Digitex and few others are examples. Would that have happened without this contest? For me, at least, the answer is NO. So, I see an advantage in this contest and maybe that is why I put in some effort too... :)
That's basically my view. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, buddy!