Wealth

Winning competitions

By Fran Molloy

Winning competitions has become more than a hobby for some people.

Sherry Sjolander doesn´t think of herself as a lucky person; she had never won so much as a chook raffle at the RSL club until a couple of year ago, when she read an article about ‘comping´ – entering competitions.

Sherry was sceptical about the article´s conclusion – that if you can´t win, you´re just not trying hard enough. "I decided to try it; I´m quite an analytical person and I set out to prove that it wasn´t true. But I found that the reverse was true – I started to win things!"

These days, Sherry´s Canberra home is bulging with prizes. She estimates that she has won more than $30,000 in prizes in the last year; and that´s a bonus, on top of the salary she earns from her full-time job. Sherry is a ‘comper;´ someone who enters lots of competitions to win prizes. And she´s not alone; her favourite competition website has more than 60,000 members and she guesses there are between 10,000 and 20,000 serious compers in Australia.

Sherry is pretty good at guessing: her specialty is entering "25 words or less" competitions, where the winner is selected based on their short answer.

These are common competitions, she adds. Because it is a game of skill, promoters don´t need to purchase a permit, which can sometimes cost thousands of dollars.

Sherry was very organised in the way she entered competitions, keeping spreadsheets and yellow index cards that recorded her entries – and started to analyse the data.

"I looked at why certain entries win and who they appeal to; I realised that patterns were starting to emerge. I could break down and analyse the data – and just as easily, I could put it back together and teach it to someone else as well."

So Sherry decided to write a book on the topic. She went to the library, did her research and prepared a detailed business plan, including proposed marketing strategies, and sent it off to 11 publishers. Two days later she had received her first offer from a publisher, but held out for a "pretty good" advance from publishing giant Allen and Unwin, who released her new book "How to Win Competitions" in July this year.

Sherry´s book is a detailed guide to comping, with tips on writing winning entries, a guide to the different types of competitions (for many, you must purchase a product – and keep your proof of purchase); she even details the problem of competition cheats.

Sherry advocates joining one of the many online comping clubs that share information about competitions and prizes available in Australia and their terms and conditions.

The clubs have discussion forums which provide a great social network, she adds. Members encourage each other, share tips and celebrate wins.

"Most people actually love getting them. Even though you are giving something you didn´t have to pay for, you´ve actually put a lot of work into acquiring that prize," Sherry says.

Often prizes are pretty valuable too, she adds, more than you could usually afford to give. She has given gifts of a $500 cosmetic package and an $800 mobile phone.

She estimates that her chances of winning something in a random draw competition are around one in 100, but in competitions that involve skill she might win one in 20.