I'd agree that the likelihood of CO releasing award seats EWR-HNL is about zero. I don't know if you could get anything on their 767 out of IAH, which is still BF seating - although the CO purists would scold me that the service is NOT BF - it's still way above domestic F.

A few years back, I did that run, EWR-IAH-HNL outbound and HNL-EWR return. Booked months out, the best I could do was an I? fare. Taking a quick peek at CO's award calendar, I did see high award seats out of IAH - might be worth a look.