I've been thinking about the state of the challenges and would also like to weigh in. I competed in many challenges last year but haven't had the time this year due to focusing on my map/asset business and having young children. I would love to be able to compete in challenges regularly but I don't see myself having time for the foreseeable future. I have been trying to be more active in the guild though and I'm still committed to doing this.

I think the mainstay of challenge competitors has always been the younger/newer members. I can't speak for everyone but thinking back to when I joined the guild, I heard about it through a WASD20 video and probably the major drawcard was getting to connect with some professional artists, viewing their work, and getting feedback on my work. I have noticed that many of the professional artists in the guild have become less active over the last year which may be part of the reason why fewer new people are coming in. I know I've focused on platforms like Instagram a lot this year as it drives customers to my paid products quite well but beyond that, I'm not a fan of the Instagram platform, there are issues with the algorithm and it's just not a great place to connect with individuals. I think a good way to get these people more engaged would be to focus on awards around the finished maps forum which is by far the most active part of the guild. We could do a monthly competition that works like the atlas awards, giving out awards for the best maps posted to finished maps. This would allow someone like me to be more involved in competitions as the work that I'm doing for my commercial projects would also be eligible for awards. It would also be good to see the atlas awards again, I was looking forward to them earlier this year but they never ran. Focusing on this might bring in more members and make the challenges viable again.

More promotion of the guild on other platforms could also be helpful. I'm glad that the discord seems to be doing well but, like Diamond, I've never really been able to get into the platform, I prefer the forums we have on the guild itself.

That's my 2 cents anyway, let me know what you think. Also @Diamond, if you need more community leaders I would be happy to be involved.