A while back I was a bit of a competition nut, did every competition going, and I did win enough to make it worth my while. There was a bit of a system to winning though, and this is how I did it.
Enter every competition going, don't worry if it's a small local competition or a great big national one. Even if it is for something you don't even want, enter it because you may not want the prize but you could sell it. The best odds, by that I mean the fewest people to enter will be local competitions, your local paper, local radio, village fete, etc. There maybe only a couple of hundred people enter so you have the odds of 200:1 on winning. Still enter the large competitions, somebody has to win.
Read the rules. Sometimes you can only enter once, multiple entries maybe banned. If not, enter as many times as you like but stagger the entries. If the closing date is in four months enter four times spread over the month, with the last one to arrive the day before or on the closing date. Your entries will be spread through the postbag, the person to pick the winning card out will put their hand in and pick the card out, no matter how deep their hand goes your card will have a good chance of being picked. Don't enter on a plain white postcard, pick the brightest card going or better still, find a postcard with a picture that relates to the competition. If you are entering a competition to win a cycle then send a card with a cycle on it. You have got to make sure that your card is the one that stands out, the one that really catches the persons eye. Now, multiple entries, if you really want to win and it's one entry per person then send in the entries in other names. I use my parents, my sisters, my in-laws, etc.
Some competitions require a "tie breaker". A snappy line/sentence about the product to be won. These have a lower turnout as a bit of thought has to go in. The line that was popular was "Designed and refined with ******* in mind" The ********* would be a word relating to the item, performance, cycling, etc. Think about the sentence you are writing. It has to show the product in a good way and be snappy, as you say it it just roles off the tongue.
You may have to buy the product and send in the receipt. This will also have a small amount of entries. OK if you want the item that needs buying, not so good if you have to buy a new washing machine and there is nothing wrong with the one you have. This works better when the item is a few pounds and you are going to use it/eat it. But, do you know somebody who has bought, or going to buy, that big item? Get the receipt from them.
Join a competition club! Sounds strange but you meet up once a month and swap entry forms you have collected. In a way, this page has become our own competition club where we let each other know of competitions.
Entering this way I won two Playstations, a Raleigh cycle, days out, a hot air balloon ride, shoes and all sorts of smaller things. I even won a pack of six condoms and a bar of soap! A friend of mine won £7000 worth of holiday vouchers. That was just by entering every competition. I was winning more than I was spending on postage so I was happy.
Some competitions are luck and some have some skill involved but you can increase your chances sometimes.
Treat competitions as a bit of fun and good luck!
Edited; Added a link to a story of a woman who enters every competition going and has won over a £100,000 in prizes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...D-contests-day-lands-100-000-haul-prizes.html
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