Moderation Approved Featured Section

I know the title seems really vague, but hear me out on this one. I think there should be a system where instead of the featured section being taken over by people who basically pay to win, it should be by how well your project seems. Like, is it completely worth the time to audition for the project.
I think this can help those who can't pay for the paid options for CCC that have a good casting call worthy of featuring. It's almost like mixing the featuring thing we have now with the Moderator Approved Badge.
I don't think should be by payment but by effort. It's like buying YouTube views so your video is more popular. It's not right to just get popular because you pay for it to be popular. I think effort is something that should be condoned rather than paying to be the top dog.