Ryland's Jubilee Tart - a Kelkoo Kids competition entry

As Ryland and I were trapped in the house all weekend (ah, the joys of potty training!) we decided to make a video entry for the Kelkoo Culinary Kids competition – the closing date of which has now been extended to Monday 5 March at midnight, so do give it a go! The prizes are really generous - the video judged to be the best gets £800 of shopping vouchers and two runners up get £100 vouchers each. To enter, your child must be under eight - check out all the info at www.kelkoosculinarykids.co.uk.

There are some fab entries to the comp already, and of course Ryland (who's just turned 2) isn't really old enough to do much by himself, so I'm not sure we'll have much of a chance of winning! Still, it was a great way to while away a couple of hours and gives us yet another entertaining home movie to embarrass him when he's older. It's a shame I didn't check that the camera was high enough for my head to actually be on screen though – and perhaps I should have insisted that Ryland wore trousers for the occasion, tee hee!

Ryland's Jubilee Tart
Ingredients:
1 ready rolled sheet of puff pastry

150g cream cheese

2 large roasted red peppers, cut into rectangular strips
About 10 baby plum tomatoes, halved.

For the tapenade:
100g pitted black olives
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon capers
Squeeze of lemon juice

- First, make the tapenade by whizzing all the ingredients in a blender - don't blend too much though, leave it so it's a bit chunky!

- Pop the pastry on a baking tray (trim if necessary) and score about an inch in from the edge. Prick the middle with a fork.

- Spread cream cheese all over the middle section, then add the peppers and tomatoes to make your Union Jack design. Spoon on the olive tapenade to fill the gaps!

- Bake at 190º for 20 minutes until golden.

The tart was a big success, so it'll definitely be on the menu for the Queen's Jubilee party in June!

Two more SuperLucky Stories...and the Biscuiteers winner!

Thankyou for all the fabulous winning stories you've emailed me about your creative competition endeavours - you can read them all here. Before I announce the winner of the Biscuiteers prize here are a couple more short stories I wanted to share with you...


A few words from Claire - and her prizewinning cat Rollie:
I like comping (that's no secret!) - I love winning things, especially for school. I suppose its the thrill of the chase! Yet a little known secret is that my cat actually comps with my help. And you know what? Rollie is rather good at it! He won a weekend away at a hotel thanks to Laterooms.com as part of their pet factor competition.  

Rollie has also won pet food, a rugby shirt and even £250 shopping vouchers for wearing a teacosy on his head! I love the quirky photo and video comps on SuperLucky that pets can get involved in, they're great fun to enter and you might even win a prize. So why not get comping with your pet, you never know what they might win...

And a tasty story from Julie!
My best prize, but one I worked quite hard for was won from New York Bakery on Facebook in July. This was a toughie. I had to do a 30 word tiebreaker first by email to explain why I should be Head of Taste for New York Bakery, then I had to make a 30 second video saying why, so I dressed up as an American footballer and had loads of New York paraphernalia around me, and did a rhyming ditty.

It was a voting competition on facebook and I won (surprisingly!!!!) THEN I had an hours photo shoot and lots of media interest. There are loads of articles on the web saying my tastebuds are insured for £5 million! They took over 500 photos (the one of me with the flag is the one that was used on their website) THEN I had to visit loads of bakeries in NYC and keep a blog with photos, THEN post it all on their FB page for about 6 days.... The holiday was for myself and my daughter and we stayed in a fab 5 star hotel (Mandarin Oriental) overlooking Central Park for 3 nights. The prize included $200 spending money for bagel related expenses, and flights - it was amazing!

...and so, which of my Winning Story authors has won these yummy Biscuiteers treats?

I visited the lovely random.org to choose the winner, who is Anne-Marie! I wonder if she'll share her biscuits with the neighbours, or perhaps with the ladies at Bolton Hospice....?!
Congratulations Anne-Marie - I'll be in touch soon to get your address details!

Thanks to everyone who sent stories, I'll hopefully run a similar giveaway later this year as I know a few of you didn't get your stories written in time! Until then, feel free to let me know here, or on Facebook or Twitter if you've won a fabulous prize in a creative comp I've told you about... and keep on comping!

WINstagram!

If you're lucky enough to own an iPhone, then you MUST download the Instagram App. It magically makes your photos look retro and gorgeous – you can read more about it at http://instagr.am/about/faq/.  Even though Instagram comps are restricted to entrants with iPhones, more promoters are launching them because they're fun, creative and viral. Today I'm telling you a bit about the App – and linking you to five Instagram comps you can enter!

To use Instagram, you can either open the App on your phone and take a photo, or you can add effects to a photo already in your library. You can even use an old photo - I usually email them to myself and then download from the email app to my iPhone photo library. Then the fun bit – crop and add effects to your photo. Then add a caption including the competition 'hashtag' (#AbsolutLondon for example). You can choose to share your Instagram snap on Twitter or Facebook too (in some cases, the promoter requires that you DO share on Twitter, and mention them). You can search and browse other Instagram photos using hashtags, and 'Follow' users as you would on Twitter or Pinterest – you can LIKE and comment on others' photos too.

Here's an example of a competition entry I did a few weeks ago where you had to upload an Instagram photo of 'my paradise' and Tweet it with two hashtags. You can view my entry online at http://instagr.am/p/k5jFe/.

Recently Ford UK gave away a car as a prize in their Instagram competition. Marketing agency Blue Hive uploaded this video to show how the campaign worked - and I was chuffed to see my own entry (a shot of the Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill LP) featured at the start. Sadly they don't mention which photo won the Fiesta!

Ford Fiesta. Fiestagram campaign from Blue Hive on Vimeo.

My current favourite Instagram competition is the one that Absolut Vodka are running over a five week period, with a prize fund of 50 limited edition bottles of Absolut London. All you have to do is capture an image of something that sums up one of London's greatest features (you DON'T need to take the photo in London!). Then you must add the #absolutlondon hashtag PLUS one of these category hashtags: #london #entertainer #music #entrepreneur #fashion. You can read all the terms here and the competition closes every Thursday at midnight until 15 March. 

I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the Absolut London week one winners - with another vinyl shot (I do love my LPs!). This is a photo of The Sundays 'Can't be Sure' single, a great London band on a great London indie label (Rough Trade) - it won in the #music category this week.

For those of you in Manchester, you can win prizes from Incognito and Instagoodies by taking an Instagram photo on the theme of 'One Off' and using the hashtag #oneoff. You then need to email it through to instameetMCR@gmail.com with the story behind it along with your Twitter name. Read more about the event here and enter before 28 February.

H and M are giving away clothes from their new Marni range. To enter, share your most inspirational images on Instagram with the hashtag #MarniatHM. The five images with the most votes on 1 March will win Marni at HM clothes and accessories, and the one judged to be the best will win a full outfit plus handbag. See the photos and read more on their Facebook page.

Win a  £100 Firebox gift voucher by uploadng a photo on the theme of Winter with the caption 'My #Fireboxwinterinstagram @Firebox' - upload before 12pm on 9 March. Read the details on their blog.

Metro Print give away an 8 x 8 C-Type matt print of their favourite Instagram photo each week. This week's theme is SKY. To enter, tweet your photo before Thursday using the hashtag #photothursday - and make sure you're following @Metro_print! For this comp, your photo can use any retro camera App (e.g. Hipstamatic or Vintage Camera) if you don't have Instagram - you can read all the details here.


Another tip!
Apart from the Instagram competitions, you can also use the App's effects to make your existing photos more appealing and quirky for entry into Twitter and Facebook competitions. After you've posted to Instagram, you can choose to email it to yourself, then you'll be able to save it to your computer and upload it to Facebook, add to a competition Tweet, pop on Pinterest or anywhere else you fancy. And if your photo isn't great quality, using Instagram can really add a bit of life to it. Here's a Before and After shot of Ryland as an example - happy snapping!

And the Flip Winner is...

Last week I ran a little competition to win my old Flip Ultra HD camcorder – to enter you had to choose one of the competitions from my video round up and let me know what you would film for your entry. 

There were lots of great answers and after some time pondering and chin stroking I have decided that the winner is Bex, who said:

I would enter the Procter and Gamble competition as my Mother and I haven't always gotten on and I often forget how amazing she actually is. She is also a big sports fan and so winning the tickets would mean a lot to her. For the actual video I would go to all of the places she took me as a child and film a sentence about her at each place!

I thought this was a really lovely idea, and it made me think of how a competition entry can become something that means so much more to your family and friends. I look back at some of the early competition videos I made of Ryland and now appreciate that they're lasting memories of his baby years. Having a competition brief motivates you to create a structure for your home movies and means they're much more entertaining. Uploading them to YouTube (and they don't always have to be 'Public') means they're easy to share with family and friends and you know they'll never get lost!

Anyway, enough of my waffle – congratulations Bex, I'll be emailing you very soon – and I look forward to seeing your finished video. And for those of you already trying out video competitions, I'll be blogging soon with some ideas on how to make your entry stand out...

Prizewinning pancakes!

Yay! It's Pancake Day - and I love pancakes! Last year my mates and I had a right laugh making this video for the Happy Egg Egg Idol competition (which won us £50 Amazon vouchers!) and so I decided to spend last Wednesday morning being super organised and making pancakes with Ryland in readiness for this year's competitions.

I was hugely overambitious to start with, browsing through the awe-inspiring photos at www.jimspancakes.com – and decided I was going to make a snake and an octopus. I mixed my batter and loaded an empty (and clean!) Mayonnaise bottle... but once I started squirting I released this was never going to work. In retrospect of course, I should have added a touch more flour to the usual mix to thicken it up...

But anyway, we figured that small circles were about as creative as we were going to get, so first we made a big banana face:

...and then we got out the silver balls and matchmakers to make a smiley caterpillar - inspired by one that JoJoEbi and her son made a few years ago (see here!)

It's a good job we were organised as the first of the pancake comps closed on Sunday over at the 'We Love Baking' Facebook page - and our caterpillar was one of the winners! We've won a Lyles 3D pancake Play Kit, which looks pretty mad - it's got all the gadgets I need to make these amazing Pancake landscapes as seen on their YouTube channel!

As lots of the pancake comps will only start to appear tomorrow on Facebook, this comp round up will be in the form of a LINKY at the bottom of the post, where I'll add the new comps as I find them - feel free to add any that you find too, the more the merrier!

Win Decent Proposals!

I'm forever telling you all about how it's best to go for the low entry competitions - and if you're a lady in a happy relationship then a Leap Year is a great time to take the plunge and pop the question to your fella – and possibly win a fabulous prize as a result!


My friend Mo emailed through a great competition to me today from Renault - they're giving away two Twingo cars. To enter, think of a creative and imaginative marriage proposal - read more details at http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/renault-twingo-competition/

For the first part of the competition, you must be female and in a relationship. To enter, simply tell them your idea for the perfect proposal in London. Enter by midnight this Monday 20 February and you could win the chance to make your proposal. Five entrants will be shortlisted and interviewed by phone on 21 February - three will be chosen to go to London on 24 February and get their proposal filmed (as well as win travel expenses, dinner and a night in a hotel). The best of the three films will win the Twingo!

If you're not in a relationship, never fear! You can still win the OTHER Twingo by submitting your idea for a perfect proposal by 29 February 2012.

Win a chance to propose in the Presidential Suite at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales on 29 February. Email your love story to MarryMe@celtic-manor.com before 23 February 2012 - read more here.

Real Radio North West are inviting listeners to propose on air - explain why you want to win and enter online here by 26 February 2012. The winner will get £2012 towards a wedding at a Village Hotel. 

If you're over in the North East, you could win a wedding at the Marriott Metro Centre by entering the Capital FM competition - it's just a prize draw but five finalists will go head-to-head in a live final on 29 February so I bet not many entrants will actually want to go through with it! Enter here before 26 February 2012.

If you buy an engagement ring and propose in a H Samuel shop on 29th February you'll get entered into a prize draw to win £1000 towards your wedding (paid by cheque) - I have a funny feeling not too many people will enter this one! Read more details at www.hsamuel.co.uk/taketheleap

Ladies, successfully propose over dinner at a Park Plaza hotel restaurant (in Leeds, London or Nottingham) on 29 February and you will win a free night's stay with dinner for the first night of your honeymoon! Read more here.

Check out my latest video comp round up for details of a competition to win a Caribbean honeymoon - film your proposal to enter and submit before 31 March (warning - it involves a public vote!)

Waitrose are giving away a fabulous wedding cake and £3000 of champers. Email your proposal story (200 words max) to proposalscompetition@waitrose.co.uk before 22 March 2012 - read more here.
 
And finally - I wish you the best of luck if you decide to take the plunge and propose... and make sure you invite me to the wedding!

Video Comp Round-up: February 2012

Inspired by this week's BAFTA Awards, I've decided to treat you all to a round up of all the great video competitions that are around right now! When I ran my little 'Guess the prize' giveaway recently, loads of you wanted to win a Flip camcorder, so I've decided to give away my old one – now don't get too excited, it has been used for a couple of months so it's not new, but it should do the job to get you started with your video competitions!

To enter the giveaway, simply leave me a comment on this post to tell me which of these video comps tickles your fancy and what kind of video you would submit. I'll choose my favourite answer after the comp closes at midnight on 21st February and send you an email or Twitter DM, and get the Flip to you so you'll have time to film your entry! This giveaway is open to UK entrants only I'm afraid.

You'll have to be quick to enter to win Carling Cup Final tickets from Help the Hospices, as it closes this Friday 17 February 2012. To enter, upload a funny football video clip to their Facebook App. 

My inbox went mad this week with the number of people forwarding me a link to the Kelkoo Culinary Kids competition - I can't imagine why! To enter, upload a video of your little one (they must be under 8) cooking as a response to this Kelkoo YouTube video. The winner gets £800 shopping vouchers while two runners up get £100 each. Read more information at www.kelkoosculinarykids.co.uk - and enter before 27 February 2012.

Inspired by movie award ceremonies, Quidco have launched their Awards competition to give away £4000 of prizes - top prize includes a Smart TV, Xbox and iPad2, second prize is a Smart TV and third prize a £250 Amazon voucher. To enter, upload a 30 second video or your acceptance speech, or just a film showing why you should win the prize. Interestingly, when I read through the terms and conditions for this comp a couple of weeks ago it mentioned a judged shortlist going to the public vote - but now they state "The winner and two runners up will be chosen by a panel of three judges, all three will be Quidco employees" - result! Closes on 29 February 2012.

Fisherman's Friend want to see your 'Taste Look' - the look on your face when you pop a FF in your mouth! You can actually enter a photo OR a video but I'm sure a video will be more likely to win this one. The prize is a £1000 Red Letter Day voucher and the winner is judged – enter on their Facebook App before 29 February 2012.

Win a trip to go trail running in Sexten, Italy with Ecco Shoes - upload a video or photo of your greatest trail run on their website. The top ten entries will go to public vote. Closes 29 February 2012.

Another one for outdoorsy folk is the SHAFF (Sheffield Adventure Film Festival) comp - produce a 3 minute film on adventue or adventure sport to enter. You could win £500 of Petzl kit and a GoPro camera. Read the details here and enter by 1 March 2012.

The Conran Shop are giving away five Moshi Moshi Play video memos - create a modern love letter in the form of a video and their five favourites will win. Read more here and enter by 28 February 2012.

If you have a funny or cute baby video, you can upload it to the Baby Loft Facebook page and you could win a £50 Kiddicare voucher - enter before 2 March 2012. Small Steps Magazine are also running a monthly baby video competition to win a £25 Mothercare voucher – there's just one entry so far this month (you must be a registered member to enter).

Quinny are giving away no less than SEVEN buggies - but you need to be prepared to embarrass yourself in order to win one! Check out this video of the Quinny Moodd Walk and recreate your own version to enter. You can enter as an individual, a group of 4 or less or a group of 5 or more. The winners of each category get a £499 Moodd pushchair, the runners up get a Yezz stroller, third prize is a Quinny bag – and one overall winner gets a £1000 Travel System. Enter on their Facebook App before 15 March 2012.

Does your child like Olly the Little White Van? Upload a video of them singing along to the credits and you could win a trip to a sound recording of Olly - and meet superstar Justin Fletcher! Enter at www.Ollythelittlewhitevan.co.uk. Closing date according to the Facebook page is 'mid March'!

I'm still not convinced by fancy YouTube channels - Procter and Gamble have one, and it means I can't link you directly to their fab Mothers Day competition! To enter, go to www.youtube.com/proctergamble and click on 'London Olympic Games'. You can upload a video (max 30 seconds), photo or just a message (max 200 words) to your Mum - the fifty best entries will win a set of four Olympics or Paralympics tickets. Closes 17 March 2012.

The Sun have launched a great daft competition - they want you to show what makes Britain great in a slow-motion video, and their favourite will win an iPad. Check out examples on their Facebook page, and upload to the App before 1 April 2012.

Now HERE'S a bizarre one - win £10,000 for charity by rapping. About property. The five most popular entries win a Kindle and the one with the most votes gets the charity cash. Enter at the Find a Property website before 5 April 2012.

The Conti 4x4 competition isn't really a video comp - although you can upload a video as part of your entry - but I wanted to mention it here as it sounds like fun and there is a great chance of winning. You have to set up a team and get points (by uploading photos, videos and other things) - the 28 teams with the most points go to a driving qualifier event on 23rd June in Gaydon. 14 teams will then be chosen to go to Morocco from 5-10 September 2012. Important things to note from the terms and conditions are that you MUST BE OVER 23 with less than 6 penalty points on your licence, and you MUST have a receipt showing a purchase of Continental tyres. Entries close on 30 April 2012.

Finally - you can't enter this one until AFTER 29 February 2012 - and get your entries in before 31 March! You need to submit a video of a female proposing in the most creative way - the best five will go to a public vote to win a honeymoon in Antigua and Barbuda. Check out the details at www.visitantiguabarbuda.co.uk/competitions-leapyearproposal.asp


Have fun - and don't forget to enter my competition to win a Flip!

I am (Music) Legend

Today I had that most wonderful thing in my inbox – a WEM (winning e-mail) informing me that I've won top prize in the HTC '25 steps to being a music legend' competition. And what did I win? 

A THOUSAND POUNDS TO SPEND ON MUSIC MEMORABILIA! 

(...oh, and a HTC Sensation XL) 

I'm hugely excited and very proud! A little bit of background information is required here: despite what the name suggests, this competition required ZERO musical talent. Which is lucky really, as musical talent is definitely something I'm lacking in. What it did require was time, effort and a passion for music and memories. And a willingness to make an arse of yourself.

To be honest, this was my dream competition, and I knew I was destined to win some sort of prize by the end of it! By uploading photos and videos, and sharing music links with friends, you could tick off challenges from the HTC list – each time you reached the next level you were in the draw for a better prize. As the game went on you could see what percentage of entrants made it to the ultimate stage – with all 25 steps completed after two weeks I felt pretty confident!

So what did I have to do? As well as making a Spotify mix tape for my friends, asking them for recommendations, listening to some classic albums from various genres, and watching music videos there were plenty of challenges for me to really get my teeth into.

These tasks gave me an excuse to dust off my old shoeboxes of memories - and oh how I love to do that!

A photo of a favourite gig ticket (now this was way more than just a gig - that night changed my life!):

A photo taken from the front row of a concert (here's Billie Joe from Green Day at Sheffield Leadmill in 1995 - sitting down because he'd broken his ankle!)

A photo of you with a musician (some of you may have read my story about touring with the Beastie Boys over at the Hilton Grammys competition - here I am rocking my pink hair with MCA!)

And then for a bit of cheekiness – 'get a musician to personally respond to you on Twitter or Facebook' and take a screenshot. My first attempt was to get a Tweet from Steve Mason (my hero from the Beta Band) but he just retweeted me which didn't count - so here's me asking Nottingham boys Bent about their favourite movie instead...

There were videos too - upload a video of a busker (I found a charming fellow outside Nottingham Broadmarsh - I'll have to go back and give him a few more quid now!). And a real classic - upload a video of you playing air guitar. Now THIS is embarrassing, but after several glasses of sherry it was a LOAD of fun! And it also reminded me what an amazing track 'Teenage Riot' by Sonic Youth is...

And my most favourite task? Recreate an album cover. This is something I'd wanted to do since I was 14 – recreate the infamous Kylie 'hair hat'! It looks so real you wouldn't know it was an Amazon box with tissue paper sellotaped on (err, well actually.....) (hope you like my Smash Hits-style captions!)

Oh year, and the best challenge by far was to watch the most amazing music video of all time - check it out here! *wink*

If I hadn't won anything in this competition I would have been surprised, but NO WAY would I have been disappointed. The two weeks I spent rummaging through old photo albums and listening to old vinyl was entertaining, nostalgic and reminded me how important music is to my life! Since then I've been playing Ryland the Telescopes, the Vaselines and the Sundays on the Technics turntable – he's not convinced, but it's better than listening to the 'In the Night Garden' theme tune. This was definitely the competition I've most enjoyed entering!

So now the question remains – what do I spend my £1000 on? The signed Bruce Springsteen guitar? The framed signed Smiths photo? The Kylie gold disc? Hmmm, well I reckon this signed Rick Astley photo is a good place to start...

Anne-Marie's SuperLucky Story

This week's SuperLucky story is a short and sweet tale from Anne-marie, who has involved the staff and residents at Bolton Hospice in her creative comping exploits! To check out all the previous winning stories from my blog readers click here.


And now, over to Anne-marie...

The first creative competition I entered was the Fairtrade Competition to win breakfast for the whole street, which Di posted up on the Compers News Chatterbox forum. Always up for a challenge, I set off in search of Fairtrade items for my breakfast tray...

I signed up to Facebook and submitted my photo - this was my first Facebook competition and I was delighted to receive 102 votes over the week and successfully win the competition! Thanks particularly to Di's help and encouragement, and of course to all the Chatterboxers who voted for me. Here I am wearing my Dorset Cereals apron, ready to distribute my prize of 385 boxes of cereal and 385 packs of Café Direct fairtrade coffee to all my friends and neighbours!

Recently we also won an iPad for Bolton Hospice in The Splash 'Uplifting effect of Ecover' competition, with our homemade hot air balloon. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the Arthur Christmas creative competitions  – we had great fun at the hospice making gingerbread snowmen! We also tried the Tesco story starter competition, and a few other slogan comps – we really look forward to entering all the creative comps you share on your blog, even if we don't win!

Anne-marie

And the mystery prize winner is...

Thanks so much to everyone who guessed at which prize I was giving away last week in my fun competition. It was interesting to see that some of you thought I might want to part with my Alexander McQueen scarf or signed Damien Hirst print.... ha!

The actual prize that I'm giving away is the brand new MORO cookbook – this is because I already have a copy of it, which is well loved (particularly the aubergine pilav and fish tagine pages!).

Five of you guessed correctly, so I asked Ryland to choose a winner from my bowler hat this morning...

...congratulations Carrie Ashton! I'll drop you an email soon....


So many of you wanted to in a Flip camcorder that I've decided to give away my old one in a little competition too, so keep an eye out for that on my video comp round up post over the weekend!

Romantic risotto

I couldn't resist the Valentine's recipe challenge (listed in my Valentine's round up) from www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk – blog a recipe for a starter, main or dessert course for a Valentine's meal and you might win a Thorntons chocolate hamper - but you've got to be super quick and do it TODAY!

Here's my recipe for beetroot risotto, which I reckon would make a delicious vegetarian starter, served up using a heart-shaped cutter - it's the perfect colour for a Valentine's dish. The apple juice gives the risotto a real tang!

Beetroot Risotto (2 starter-sized portions plus some lunchbox leftovers!)

300ml vegetable stock
200ml apple juice
25g butter
1 small onion, diced
175 g Arborio risotto rice
70ml dry cider
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
2 small beetroots, peeled and grated
Salt and pepper
Grated parmesan, to serve

• Combine the stock and apple juice in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
• Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat; add the onion, and sauté for 5 minutes.
• Add the rice, stir well, and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the cider and simmer until it’s absorbed, then stir in the beetroot and herbs.
• Add 250ml of the juice/stock mix, then cover and simmer until the liquid is absorbed.
• Add the remaining liquid a ladle at a time, stirring constantly and waiting until it is absorbed before adding the next ladle. Keep adding liquid until the rice is tender - you might not need the full amount.
• Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the parmesan.

Check out all the Valentines gifts available at Find Me A Gift!

Clara's SuperLucky Story

Today's post is another 'Superlucky Story' – a tale of creative comping inspired by my blog or comps that I've posted on my Facebook page! Everyone who emailed a story is in the draw for a tin of yummy Biscuiteers treats, which will be announced when I've published all the entries – you can read through all the stories so far here.

This week I have a fantastic post from Clara, who's only been comping for a year but is enjoying success in all sorts of promotions – and she gives a brilliant run-down of the different types of online comps too. Thanks Clara!


And now, over to Clara...

A weekend in Paris? Meet and Greet your favourite musician? Dinner in a posh London restaurant? Or a new leather bag, with designer purse? What else do you wish for? Designer clothes, enough skin care products to last for years or a big shoe voucher that would give new boots for your whole family – just in time for the upcoming season…

These are all lovely wishes, and it all came true for me – through comping – and I’m so grateful for that!

It all started in the beginning of January 2011 when I received a letter from the agency of Jamie Cullum. I’ve been entering the advent calendar on his official website and I was lucky enough to win an opportunity to participate the live recording of his BBC2 radio show - wow, I was really chuffed! By then Í had been entering competitions on woman’s magazine sites, like Marie Claire and Elle, but I have never actually won anything before. You know – when you read the winning e-mail, starting with Congratulations! – it just gives you a really unique feeling, a rush of total excitement!

I discovered Facebook comping in March, when a friend of mine won a Caribbean holiday with Kuoni. I’ve started to find new fan pages with daily/weekly/monthly or one-off competitions and soon I got addicted to entering competitions! I made a little wishlist for the things I’d love to win, and it was really nice when I could achieve 1 or 2 wins – just great!

There are so many different types of competitions and all compers have their special favourites:

Judged tiebreaker competitions
As English is not my first language, it gives me extra pleasure when I win in tiebreaker competitions, like the one with Kettle Chips. They were looking for “your favourite Kettle chips moment”. The prizes where really nice and I was so glad when I was informed that my answer was chosen as a winner on one of the weeks – I got a lovely Mulberry purse, something I couldn’t have afforded, so you can imagine how happy I was! 

There was a similar competition with Boots – they were asking for tips in different categories – they liked mine on hair care and I won a nice big goodie bag. Or do you remember the competition on DKNY Jeans? They were looking for creative answers why you want to win any of the items from a selection of outfits. The answer was limited to 160 characters and open worldwide, but hey, I got lucky again and received a nice white summer dress and jeans cropped jacket.

Creative competitions 
They need a bit of effort and creativity. Most people are not bothered with this type but the prizes are mostly bigger and with a unique idea and some IT skills – you can easily bag a guaranteed win. Di from SuperLucky has inspired me to think out of the box and enter more creative comps – thanks for that! I love fashion and quality items, so when Ri2k has announced to give away a leather tote, I really wanted to win it. They were asking the fans to upload a photo onto their fan page of a shoe they’d pair with the bag – their favourite would win the prize. I wanted to do something different from the other entrants, so I put together a few outfits from my wardrobe and took a picture of those. A few weeks later I won that lovely bag and now the proud owner of it.

Random prize draws 

When you enter your details and if you are lucky, your name gets picked. The chances vary but occasionally the sun might just shine on you. I have won a 2-night stay in one of the most luxurious hotels in Paris – it was truly a lush trip and helped us to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary in true style. I wrote a blog article about our wonderful weekend, which you can read here.

Just a tip: before I enter any of these comps, I always check how many fans the page already have…the smaller the fan community, the better chances of winning!

And there are those dreaded voting competitions as well 
I left this for last, because to be honest – we've all tried it and most of us have ended up with a bad experience, it’s not something we like to remember. Voting comps can be very heated, there is more opportunity for cheating and they need a lot of effort to win. When the fan page of Emma Bridgewater announced a new personalised mug competition, I got really excited! EB has been my favorite pottery brand for yonks and I own several of her mug designs – mostly presents from my husband. They don’t come cheap so I entered the comp – only to find out later that it was a voting one. As I’ve had some experience with this type, I asked them to change the rules of the promotion to random or judged, but they stayed with the original Terms and Conditions, so I started a little campaign among my friends to try and get enough votes to win. Those 3 weeks were one of the most agonising and worrying periods of my life. It might sound silly, but checking the results every hour, and with another team heavily competing, I couldn’t rest, and after a time I really wanted to win after putting so much effort in. With the help of many people I won in the end and I am so glad because I’m giving all these personalised mugs to the volunteers I’m working with in a non-profit organisation. 

It’s such a pleasure when I can present a loved one with a nice gift that I’ve won through comping. My niece likes me very much for the skin care products I pass onto her and winning a few lovely prizes certainly made our Christmas much easier this year, something I’m very happy for.

Comping might be very time-consuming but if you set some goals and put some effort into creative competitions – it might be very rewarding and could fulfill some long overdue dreams as well! 

Clara

Blog Comp Linky: March 2012

Welcome to my blog comp linky for competitions that are closing in MARCH 2012. If you're hosting a giveaway please add it to the list, including the prize and the closing date - and your blog name if you can fit it in! You can access this post and the FEBRUARY linky via the links on the right hand side bar.

Please note, competitions MUST be hosted on a blog and they should be open to UK entries. For advice on running blog comps and more info about Rafflecopter check out this blog post.
If you want to enter these competitions but aren't sure how, check out my post on How to Enter a Blog Competition for advice!

Don't forget to add your blog giveaway to www.theprizefinder.com too!

Cybher Meet and Greet!

It's become something of a tradition to host a conference 'Meet and greet' and so here you have it...

If you are going to Cybher, think of it as a little ice-breaker, a way to make some new friends ahead of the big day!

If you already have your ticket make sure you grab your badge here.

So this is me...

Name: Di Coke
Blogs: SuperLucky and ThePrizeFinder blog
Twitter ID: @superluckydi and @theprizefinder
Height: 5'6"
Hair: by May, who knows? Most likely a mess!

Five things you should know about me...
1. I support Birmingham City (and occasionally Arsenal and Forest)
2. I have a 2 year old son and a 39 year old husband
3. I live in Nottingham but plan to move to Brighton next year
4. I'm strangely nostalgic for late 80s/early 90s indie music - Cud and Spacemen 3 in particular!
5. I love a cheese trolley - my idea of heaven!

So that's it.

If you would like to join in the Cybher Meet and Greet, do a post and add it to the Linky over at Geek is the New Chic. See you in May!

Valentine's Comp Round up

Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is a great excuse for promoters to get all soppy and demand that we relive our traumatic dates, and leave embarrassing messages for our loved ones on Facebook. Here's a selection of creative competitions that you should love - and I've also included a linky at the end of the post so that new competitions can be added as the big day gets nearer (feel free to help me out by adding any good ones that you find!)


The '14 days of love' competition has already kicked off and runs from 1st - 14th February 2012. Upload a recommendation for a local business at www.thebestof.co.uk/loveometer/ There's a different prize every day including cinema tickets, champagne and flowers - winners are drawn from all the recommendations on that day!

Win a night's stay at the Best Western Moathouse in Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday 11th February - leave a comment on this Facebook post about your best Valentine's Day to enter - no closing date mentioned so be quick!

LoveFood are giving away a hamper of deli treats from Good Fork - to enter, choose a recipe from their database that you would cook for a loved one and say why - leave your answer as a comment here before 6 February 2012.

Bloggers can win one of three £50 Thorntons hampers by blogging a recipe for a special Valentine's Day meal - read more on the Find Me a Gift website and post your blog by 6 February 2012.

Make a Valentine's promise to a loved one on the Clothing at Tesco Facebook App, and you could win a 5 star weekend in Paris! Enter by 4pm on 8 February 2012 - winner picked at random.

WishWantWear are giving away a special Valentine's Day hamper including a free dress rental, a bottle of champagne and two cinema tickets to a film of your choice - three runners up will also be selected for a free dress rental! To enter, post your best or worst Valentine's Day experience on their Facebook page before 8 February 2012.

Hope and Greenwood are giving away a Valentine's Treat Box - to enter, complete the sentence 'I love chocolate more than...' on their Facebook App before 9 February 2012. The best answer will win!

Inlovewithfashion want you to upload photos of heart shapes - you will need to have an account with them, then email your photo through to win@inlovewithfashion.com. The winner gets £100 store credit. Read more details at inlovewithfashion.com - enter by 9 February 2012.

Win your dream Valentine's Day with the Handmade Burger Co - just tell them in 250 characters or less who you would like to treat and what your perfect experience would be - 12 runners up get a meal for two at HBC. Winner picked at random - enter on their website by 10 February 2012.

Florette are offering £150 to spend at a restaurant of your choice plus a bottle of bubbly on their Facebook competition - to enter, tell them what would make your ideal Valentine's evening - the most creative and original answer will win! Enter by 10 February 2012.

Tell Rare Fashion the outfit you'd love to win for your Valentine's date and you could win it - along with a handbag, accessories and a goody bag! Enter at www.rarefashion.co.uk/valentines-competition before 10 February 2012.

Lufthansa are giving 500 roses to the winner of their photo competition – to enter, upload a photo of your 'romantic gift' to their Facebook App. The winner is 85% judge's decision, 15% on user comments! Closes 12 February 2012.

How did you meet your sweetheart? Tell Brook Taverner on their Facebook App before 13 Febaruary 2012 and you would win £300 of menswear!

Tree2myDoor are offering a £100 voucher to the winner of their annual Valentine's Poetry competition. You can send your poem by email or by video! Check out the details at www.tree2mydoor.com/valentines_day_poems.asp and enter by 14 February 2012.

Create a Valentine's outfit on the ASOS Fashionfinder site and you could win £300, £150 or £50 ASOS vouchers - closes 19 February 2012.

Write a love note using the Bella Italia Facebook App and win a spa day for two - the winning entry will be judged, enter by 29 February 2012.

Tell Argenteus about your first crush and their 4 favourite stories will win a Swarovski heart pendant worth £30. Read more on their event page, and leave your entries on their Facebook wall by 29 February 2012.

Win a 6 bottle case of Marquis de Monistrol Cava with your best Valentine's gift - email monistrol@unitedwineries.com saying what made your Valentine's Day perfect by 12 March 2012.


Lots of love xxxx

Guess the prize... and win it! *GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED*

Did you see me featured in yesterday's 'Addicted to Winning' article in the Daily Express? If you missed it, you can check it out on their website here. The photographer Paul Tonge kindly emailed over a few of the photos he took of my prize stash, and I thought it would be fun to post one on the blog and offer you the chance to win one of my prizes!

So...below is the photo, and I've listed below all the prizes that feature. Just pick the one you think I'm giving away and leave that answer as a comment. With the Disqus comment system, you can leave your email address (which is unpublished), so anyone can enter even if you're not on Google, Twitter or Facebook.

It's limited to one guess per person (UK, ROI and Channel Islands entrants only) - the names of everyone who chooses the correct item will be put into a hat for Ryland to draw a winner in a week's time, so enter before midnight on 8th February! 

Clockwise from me: Firetrap top and skirt from Selfridges (Simply Tap prize draw), boots from KG (Elle prize draw), Laura Ashley scarf (blog comp), Happy Hopperz cow (FB comp), Signed Damien Hirst print (Observer comp), Persil (Asda photo comp), Blu-Ray player (Lidl FB photo comp), Camcorders (Flip FB video comp), Kite (Actimel text comp), Curb your Enthusiasm DVD (local paper postcard comp), Talking Rastamouse (Tangerine Turtle blog), Lego storage head and boxes from Toys R Us (Mecca Bingo video comp), Duplo (Mummy Mummy Mum blog), Peppa Pig DVD (Romanian Mom blog), Bob the Builder Toolkit (Friends comic), Coral handbag (Woman email comp), Wedges (White Stuff photo comp), Reiss sandals (Isklar FB photo comp), Popcorn (Butterkist FB photo comp), Moro cookbook (Telegraph Twitter comp), Surcare products (All Baby Advice blog), Lenor & Flash (Asda photo comp), Navy handbag (Woman email comp), Dermalogica booster (video comp), Dermalogica eye makeup remover (video comp), Soap and Glory bubble bath (raffle prize), Scandalous shampoo (FB photo comp), Heinz Apron (Blippar comp), Anchor cake tin (FB comp), Heinz oven gloves (Blippar comp), Coffee (Fairtrade Foundation photo comp), Talking Charley Bear (Favourites comic) Wooden bike (Nigel's Eco Store tiebreaker), Signed Forest shirt (Talksport radio phone-in), Alexander McQueen scarf (Müllerlight Treasure Hunt)... and on the wall, a signed menu from my husband's prize trip to the Fat Duck!