What I meant about the tags is that while it's fine when browsing the comm page, when it comes to the actual post it's so long that it makes the page tall even when there's only one or two comments.

The widget route would probably be a good idea. It could display the winner for each month with a picture of the ad, and a list of the finalists (similar to what bakebakebake does). It could also serve as a constant reminder of the current contest.