Hi Tom,
Work on your lettering skills, being able to produce good looking 3D or 2D letters is one of the signs of a true pro
try taking some of the tutorials on this site
http://www.psworkshop.net
it's a damn ugly site for a PS tutorial site, but the articles are just great, and some of them can inspire you, just as the contest did...
also, try searching for some color theory tutorials on google
keep it up
