[ He ponders on that with a thoughtful, drawn out 'mmmm' ]

Since your point is to not make it competitive, the best reward that could be fair to everyone would be a feast.

That's kind of extreme, of course, and I'm not suggesting that. You've mentioned refreshments during the event, but how about ending it with a bang? When everything is done and over to feed them something nice. Like those 'ice-creams' that seems to be popular now.

[ He got ears, he heard about them... and he's curious to taste one, so he might have an ulterior motive ]