I kind of dig the proposed prize setup. Instead of having a huge champion prize where everyone else loses out, there are a lot of different ways for players to make their money back (or more). I think that's great for keeping people in it for the whole season. I'm cool with a smacktalking award, but too many awards might spread the prize pool a bit thin.

For the $240 proposal above, I think it'd make sense to change the $25 prizes to $20, include a Smacktalk prize (also $20), and throw the remaining $5 on top of either the Runner-Up or Champion prize. That way, all 'specialty' awards result in winning your money back, and you either shrink or widen the gap between 2nd and 1st. I think I prefer widening the gap, to make the trophy tastier :P.

Anyway, just an idea, I think any of the setups discussed so far would be sweet .