As always, prizesaretooshitty faggotry. Eh.
Prizes won't get better, it'd ruin the economy once again - that's what tc tourneys back then did. Nevertheless, I usually give out decent item prizes, worth up to 10k for 'seriousmod' tourneys and 5k for 'funmod' ones - you can't really expect more for katanajoust or shovelfighters.

As for the mood of tourneys, it depends on players - if they don't want to talk and interact, I can't really help it.
Rules: I don't feel I'm too strict, warn/mute/kickban method usually works pretty well - I don't bother with warning OMGLOLOLOLFAGSHITNIG guys, tho - that's no use, there goes instamute.

Speaking 'bout rules and so on - 90% of players don't pay attention to introduction in which I cover everything, from prizes to pingtimeouts. So yes, I will call you an idiot if I answered the question about 'omg powas I pinged, what do' or 'plz i pinged put back plz' several times and you still don't get it (note: it is usually '/whisper me with your former position' rule).

Another thing, you are really impatient and usually follow following logic - 'if GM doesn't reply to my questions I must spam him/chat with same question 30 times more'.
If I don't respond right away it usually means I'm dealing with /whispers - I know how to extend chatlines and pageup, your question won't be ignored.