I really like your idea, Dravidia and we certainly need a group project right now.:) I have just a suggestion: why not make a sort of "Middle Earth: express yourself" contest. I rarely write stories in english and I certainly feel more confortable with multimedia than with a pen in my hand. It would be interesting to give the oportunity to people express their vision about Tolkien's universe using the tools they like the most and feel more confortable. About the participation plaque, maybe we could even use it as an excuse to make our members use their graphic skills and show us how talented they are.
Now, are we going to make this a close or open contest? Frankly, I'm always for public contest/events. The more, the merrier! Now, if you feel more confortable to participate only in the group sphere, that would also nice. What do you think?