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While not exactly a consistent income in a monetary sense, entering competitions and winning prizes creates a serious feeling of satisfaction and excitement! I discovered a love of entering competitions when I was a teenager, after entering and winning a competition in a teen magazine. Since then, I’ve continued to enter comps over the years, and have been lucky enough to win some wonderful prizes, including a $10,000 holiday voucher that allowed us to take an amazing family holiday to the snow in NSW!
One Christmas was nearly fully funded by my competition wins (toys and gift vouchers). Due to having just moved interstate, high rents and other factors, the budget was extremely tight that year. I started entering every competition I could find, in a effort to win something that I could wrap and put under the tree for the kids. I was so incredibly grateful to receive the prizes I won that year.
Entering competitions to win prizes isn’t just as simple as submitting your details and waiting for prizes to show up on your doorstep. Here are some hints from my experience over the years:
- Despite consistent entering, wins can be quite random; you could have 5 wins in one week, and then nothing for 3 months!
- Take note of the terms and conditions (T&C’s) of each comp, and stick to them! There is no point submitting a long essay when the comp T&C’s clearly state a 25-word-or-less answer. If you buy an item to enter a Purchase-To-Win competition, make sure you keep the receipt somewhere safe as often you’ll be asked to provide proof of purchase to receive the prize.
- For creative type comps, including 25-words-or-less and video entries, be original and witty. A quick little poem or well-thought out answer containing the company or brand name will give you more of a chance than just saying “I really want to win this because I’m broke/having a bad week/my family needs it”.
- Don’t enter every single competition, simply for the sake of winning something! Enter only those competitions that you really want. There is nothing that annoys the comping community more than people that simply sell their prizes for monetary gain.
While you can simply search for competitions to enter through Google, there are comping websites that you can join in which members add competition links for everyone to use. These are my favourite ones to use:
Lottos is my favourite site to use and it can take a bit to get used to the layout and functions of the site, however I like being able to exclude comps I’m ineligible to enter due to my state of residence, and mark off those I have entered. There is a joining fee of $44 for a year (cheaper if you pay for 2 or 3 years upfront), or you can try it for free for 3 days.
Comping Club is free, though you will need to create an account to access competition links.
Competitions.com.au is free to use, and easy to navigate.
Most of all, have fun and enjoy your wins!
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