Valentine’s Day! Love it or hate it, promoters will be offering a wide array of romance stuffed prizes for our delectation! I haven’t begun looking for valentine competitions yet, but I will do soon. And, as all good Scouts know, being prepared is the key to winning.
Usual competition prizes during Valentines Day include romantic breaks, meals, tickets, chocolates, flowers, engagement rings, and jewellery. There are so many for this occasion, that unless you are organised, it’s easy to let some great entries slip between your fingers.
Even though we’ve only just got past Christmas, promoters work far in advance and will have prepared the big valentine competitions already. Some like to announce their competitions a little later and these will have only short running times and tend to be smaller prizes. That’s just a rule of thumb and there are always exceptions.
How do you prepare for the big prizes? I usually start with big competitions that will finish early enough for the prize to be posted or used for Valentine’s Day. Finding competitions in date order can work well for both prize draws and creative competitions.
Prize Draws
Competitions to win a romantic short break are promoted nice and early to ensure the closing date ends a week before so there is plenty of time for the prize to be claimed. Similarly, competitions to win theatre breaks and any experience type prize will end well in advance of the 14th February– so searching for these ones first makes a lot of sense. Obviously, there are some promoters who don’t do this, so keep those Competition Hunter eyes open!
Creative
Creative competitions can be found all over social media, from simple ‘leave a comment’ type questions to photos, recipes and poetry.
People that say ‘I’m not creative’ are often the people with the best entries because imaginative people do tend to submit something so weird that it baffles and confuses the promoter. I find a good strategy is to look over previous winning entries for inspiration. I would never copy an entry, but there is plenty of scope for building on an already good idea – lots of people do this, and there is nothing wrong with doing it if you can make the entry truly your own. Mixing ideas of two entries to make one outstanding idea is another strategy.
Simplicity and a witty change to a stock reference is another great way to enter creative competitions quickly. For example – if a competition asks you to submit poetry – don’t feel that you have to be Wordsworth! Changing the words to a well-known poem makes your entry immediately appealing. Promoters haven’t got time to decipher subtle phrases and clever layering – they usually look for wide appeal. A Roses are Red poem can be short and sweet – as can ‘Shall I Compare thee to (add their business competitor) can make for a funny entry. Photo competitions work in the same way as written words – a photo that depicts a red rose and a funny poem can be captioned to get the message across. Photo manipulation (if you have the right apps) and silly dress-up ideas can work well too. Use your imagination, but prevent it from going too far. A simple easy to understand entry will usually garner more interest than an entry from a skilled professional wanting to show off – so be brave!
How are you preparing for Valentine competitions? Are you planning on winning your way to a romantic holiday with your other half or maybe just wanting to win a whole bunch of chocolate to eat to yourself instead? Do let us know in the comments below!