I made a new tournament with unique prize trophies... http://www.chess.com/tournament/the-rosetta-stone

What's the best way of advertising? I don't really like the idea of mass inviting hundreds of random members. Apart from being fairly impractical, it also seems a bit rude.

I've started inviting my ex-opponents, but wondered if anyone had any suggestions to kickstart the recruitment?

Other than this forum topic, a blog entry and updating your profile could help.

If you decide to send invitations, premium member are more likely to be able to accept an invitation. Targeted invitations, as opposed to group invitations, are time consuming. You should find though, once a few people join, your tournament will move to the first page of the current tournaments list and may fill on its own.