Way back in the days of active ReBoot fandom I ran the
URA 2001 (Unofficial Reboot Awards for 2001). 2000 had been the first one, and people loved it so much that when the original (anonymous) committee said they weren't going to do it again due to shifts in interest, I took it up. For the next 7 or 8 years various committees ran it, each putting their own spin on it.
It was not centered on one site, so there were awards for websites that contributed to the fandom - best design, best content, most original - and awards for fan fiction and fan art. We held nominations and then had a voting round, same as here, but when it came time to present the awards we had guest presenters, most of whom were stars in the fandom, do their presentations each in their own styles. (Some were even comics!)
I handled things very differently from how they've been done here in the past...but it sounds as if maybe some new ideas are needed to drum up interest rather than having another year of same-old, same-old. And, let me tell you, the URAs did drum up interest. Maybe there are some ideas there that could prove useful here.