One of the troubles with stock contests is that the timescale becomes very relevant. I like that you've picked a year- most of the ones I've seen are only a few weeks, and so dramatically overreward luck and leverage. Even then, a year is not all that much time for the value investor (the brand that tends to make the most out of not sharing Mr. Market's crazes), and I suspect you're better off learning investing from investing professionals (either by getting an account with Motley Fool, or reading The Intelligent Investor, or so on).

I remember reading a few years ago about a fund that wanted to use data mining of investment newspapers for psychologically relevant words, to predict how Mr. Market would behave, and so make money off of anticipating his swings. I don't remember its name and don't seem to be able to find it now.