Hi Dark Dimension. Thanks for the reply.
I think my game was only "featured" on GJ because it made it to the "hot" page as a result of being downloaded a lot in a few days -- and not because the GJ admins decided to feature it (there's a separate section on GJ for that). So....making it to "hot" created a positive feedback loop and helped my game get seen and downloaded a whole lot more.
Yet, the opposite is true for me on itch.