Alright, I've seen the arguments for both sides of a partner comp haha.
I'd really like to foster some socializing and teamwork, while being accessible and open to everyone. What about an optional partner comp? Say that there would be a prompt for each adopt that needs to be filled out, with the limits of x words and y art pieces--everyone can enter. However, if you would like to team up with someone, there's an optional prompt to fill out together, with another small amount of words and an art piece to do so? To give folks room to express their idea, but not a huge advantage over the competition.
Does that sound fair?