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Advice for hosting a language agnostic King of the Hill contest

A [King of the Hill](https://codegolf.codidact.com/categories/46/tags/4366 "Posts tagged 'king-of-the-hill'") contest requires that a controller program provided by the person hosting the contest communicate (both input and output) with each of the entries to the contest. For some contests these entries may be functions to be called by the controller, and in other contests the entries may be stand alone programs that communicate with the controller by some other means.

Some methods of communication (such as function calls) tend to make the contest language specific. For example, a controller that calls functions often means that each entry must be a function written in the same language as the controller.

Language specific contests are permitted, but language agnostic contests have the advantage of including more potential players. They also add an extra layer to the competition, as there is now competition between languages as well as competition between players.

What advice should I bear in mind when designing a language agnostic King of the Hill contest? What approaches would you recommend and what advantages and disadvantages do they have?