Atoms are earned by solving contests.
Every award is a ledger entry with a reason attached, so a rating is always the sum of things you actually did. Make an account to start one.
One every Monday, a larger one on the first of the month, plus whatever the community proposes. Every entry is re-simulated on the server by the engine the studio runs, so a score can never be reported by a client.
Nothing open right now.
The next one opens on the date marked below. In the meantime you can propose one — it goes live once a reviewer agrees it is a good puzzle.