In 4 Minutes, The Truth About Entering Competitions

This year saw me start entering competitions again and it has been a huge success! I first started comping way back in 2009 when I was on maternity leave and I was quickly hooked due to the great prizes that were on offer. I have always said that winning competitions is a numbers game – it is all down to probability and if you enter regularly and enough you will get lucky and win.

However, others believe that I am naturally lucky and I would say that I believe in the law of attraction and have definitely had moments when I have known that I am going to win. For me, the best part of winning has been the unbelievable and often money can’t buy experiences (hello dancing and with Pixie Lott in a private intimate concert in Spain) and the luxuries that I have won for my kids and friends.

I have won several thousand pounds worth of prizes just in the last year alone and in this post, I am sharing just why I love this hobby so much! I have even shared my comping tips with the national media previously.

Why is it Good to Enter Competitions?

I enter online competitions to win amazing prizes like festival tickets, holidays and little prizes. It is a great hobby and by entering creative competitions you get the chance to be a little silly or challenge yourself with a creative entry. Even unwanted prizes are useful as I gift those to family, friends and even charities. I have also been asked if you can sell prizes and yes you can do want you like with most prizes although some are non-transferable – these tend to be tickets or holidays.

I had stopped being a regular comper but with a little more time on my hands, I decided to pick my hobby back up as it is a great way to add some winning moments to my life. I love the thrill of a competition win and always get a buzz from receiving a winning notification or message on social media after entering competitions. The first time I won I was in shock and it inspired me to keep going.

Since I started again a few months back I have won a holiday in Spain, chocolates, VIP Tour of the Morgan Factory, designer sunglasses, advent calendars and just today I won a big prize which was £250 cash (cash prizes are my favourite type of win)!

How Do I Enter Competitions

I share my wins on social media and on my Facebook page to show that real people do win prize draws and I also track my wins so that I can see what type of competitions I win. When I share these wins I am always asked where I find new competition and how come I win so much. Therefore I decided to write this blog post on entering competitions to help others win their dream prize and avoid the simple mistakes that many may make.

I use a competition website to help me find and sort competitions according to their closing date. I personally use Loquax and then click on closing soon to filter. Every day there can be up to 200 or so competitions closing. I enter the ones that I am interested in, however, I would say that this approach is time-consuming and you need to be careful not to get bored or fed up with entering. Slow and steady is definitely my preferred approach, many of the listed comps are just based on filling in simple entry forms so there is greater competition and more people chancing their luck!
Another tip is to set up a separate email address if you plan on entering lots of competitions as it does sometimes involve subscribing to newsletters or websites which could mean you get more emails. You may want to keep this separate from your general email account.
Social media is also a great place to find giveaways and again I just enter any I spot – I especially look for ones not too many people have entered as the odds are better.
Finding competitions with fewer entries is a good idea and you can do this by searching yourself using hashtags – this gives you a better chance of winning.
Local competitions in shopping centres, local restaurants and theatres will have fewer entrants too and this increases your chances.
Creative competitions will always have fewer people entering and this is how I won the holiday to Spain. For this, I made a short video on why we should join the party and it was uploaded to Youtube. We have also had great success on Tik Tok as again it often involves getting creative and making a tik tok video. I usually rope my teen into creating these and upload them on my account – Erin recently won us a fab expensive dog bed on Tik Tok which was great. Just make sure that you read the small print so that you understand the requirements and you don’t waste time on an entry that will not be valid!
The best way to find new competitions is by joining in with the comping community who often share top tips and good practice. These compers are often very generous with their time and knowledge – it is good karma to help others and share comps. The queen of comping is Di Coke who has a very active Facebook group called Lucky Learners and in there the most dedicated compers will share their best wins and offer advice. I find this group incredibly inspiring and it keeps me motivated when I am having a lean spell!
Purchase necessary comps also require extra effort but the chances of winning increased. I have won several small prizes this way including a super cute Bon Maman Advent calendar. These purchase-required competitions often require you to upload a receipt or provide proof of purchase when you win. It could be that you need to enter a barcode or it could be an instant win. A word of warning though don’t buy things unless they will get used – I often add food things to the food bank if I buy it just for the receipt! Also, check whether you need a new receipt for each entry or not.
I am keeping track of competitions and amazing prizes as I find it really motivating and you quickly forget what you have won. I am going to add up the value this year too as I think that will be really interesting.
Staying organised with your comping is also important and this year I have got the BootComp Planner which is a competition organiser by Di Coke. Not only is it full of available advice it has space to track those wins.

Entering competitions can be big business and there are many professional compers that take entering competitions very seriously and treat it like a part-time job and you can’t blame them when the prizes are so fantastic but what is brilliant is that anyone can win, you have as much chance as the next person and no one forgets their first competition win.

I am going to share my wins each month in a new blog post which will also be updated here as I know a lot of people are interested in my comping journey and hopefully other readers will share their best wins in the comments too as it will inspire us all and is a good way to stay motivated.