Scam Alerts
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Scams proliferate on the Internet and those who enter contests have not escaped the notice of scam artists. Here are some common scams to be wary of as well as hints and tips on how to protect yourself. Click the links below to see examples of these scam emails and letters.
You’ve Won A Lottery!
The problem is … you didn’t buy a ticket so don’t be scammed.
Contact Your Bank
For some mysterious reason, a stranger is about to deposit money in your bank account … all you have to do is provide them with all your private information and you will be an instant millionaire!
Represent Us
They want you to process their cheques because they are from a foreign country. They’ll give you 5 – 20% of the money you process through your bank.
RESOURCES
Double Million-Dollar Lottery Winner Shares Lotto Secrets.
Winning 42: Strategy & Lore of the National Game of Texas
Ten MORE Tips to Help You Win Cooking and Recipe Contests
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If you are serious about Winning Cooking and Recipe contests, you’ve got to keep current with recipe, diet and health trends. Keep up with current trends by getting subscriptions to appropriate cooking magazines and looking through current cook books. Watch the cooking shows to see if you can spot trends and techniques. Study how popular cookbook authors describe and name their recipes and how they write their directions.
Of course the most FUN part of entering the contests … aside from winning … is the opportunity to test your new recipes on your family and friends.
Here are Ten MORE Tips to Help you Win!
11. Simplify your recipe by combining steps.
12. Create recipes using new ingredients that have shown up on grocery shelves. For example, kiwis used to be an exotic fruit … but is now commonly available.
13. Create versatile recipes.
14. Enhance the flavor of your dish.
15. Include the size of pots, pans, or casseroles.
16. Don’t forget to include the cooking temperatures and times. You could also include the preparation time.
17. State the number of servings.
18. The recipe should appeal to a wide audience.
19. Never send in hand written entries. Be sure to keep a copy of your own recipe, and keep track of the contests and what you entered (you can enter some contests monthly).
20. Triple check the contest rules!
COOKING & RECIPE CONTESTS
Ongoing (monthly) Recipe Contests
Recipe Contests with Deadlines
ANYTHING GOES and COOKING CONTESTS are also found in the Contest News BLOG
(c) 2007 Melanie Rockett
ContestGuru.com
All Rights Reserved
do not republish without permission
RESOURCES
Lottery Winning Package – Win Any State Lottery Game!
The Cooking Contest Cookbook: More Than 120 Prize Winning Recipes
Taste of Home: Winning Recipes: 645 Recipes from National Cooking Contests
Ten Tips to Help You Win Cooking and Recipe Contests
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If you enjoy creating wonderful meals and dishes in your kitchen … DO consider entering a few of the MANY cooking and recipe contests available throughout the year. Cooking contest have some of the highest PRIZE MONIES of any other kind of creative contests. Why? The food industry is a billion dollar industry and their mission is to keep their products on your mind and in your stomach!
When you think of bake-off … what comes to mind? Yes, you probably said the Pillsbury Bakeoff. And rightly so. It is one of the longest running and THE most highly paid cooking contest ever, with the grand prize of a cool MILLION dollars.
Here are ten great tips for creating great recipes and positioning yourself to WIN the next cooking contest you enter.
1. Follow the directions very carefully. Read them twice … and then read them again before you send in your submission.
2. Do not use abbreviations. Use tablespoon instead of tbsp.
3. Make your recipe as simple and easy to prepare as you can. The sponsors are looking for a recipe that everyone wants to try out and they won’t try if your recipe is complicated.
4. Use accurate measurements. If you are entering a US based contest don’t use metric measurements. If yothe contest sponsor is in Canada, it is probably wise to use US measurements, but DO check with the contest sponsor.
5. Feature the contest sponsor’s product. Make the product the focus of your recipe.
6. If this is an ongoing or annual contest, analyze recipes that have been chosen as previous winners.
7. Use ingredients that are readily available.
8. Write directions in easy to read and complete sentences.
9. List the ingredients in order of use.
10. Use your creativity when naming your recipe … make it appealing to the ear, eye and mouth!
COOKING & RECIPE CONTESTS
Ongoing (monthly) Recipe Contests
Recipe Contests with Deadlines
RESOURCES
Double Lottery Winner Reveals His Lotto Secrets
Taste of Home Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2009
The Ungarnished Truth: A Cooking Contest Memoir
Using Contests to Promote Your Career
There are loads of reasons for entering contests:
* winning great loot
* winning cool CASH
* knowing where you stand as compared to your cohorts
* getting acknowledgement
* being able to put “winner” in your resume
* helps get you an agent
* simply being a “winner” is fun
* getting published
* getting noticed
* getting your name out “there”
And the reason I am going to concentrate on today is that winning contests can help drive and enhance your career.
Take this scenario.
A well know Canadian photographer, entered dozens of prominent local, regional and International contests for years. He won dozens of contests … including several full blown camera systems, lighting kits, lenses, a boatload of film and processing, trips and more.
He used some of the gear to develop his kit … and sold the rest so that he could buy more of what he needed. He used the trips as a way of adding to his stock collection. Basically he was totally set as far as equipment went. Tens of Thousands of dollars he didn’t have to come up with!
But the best part, was the exposure he received. One of the contests he won (several times) was with one of Canada’s top photo magazine. First he got invited to write for the magazine. Then he got a job as editor of that magazine. He’s had several fabulous books published and is now considered to be one of Canada’s top photographers.
Too cool.
All from entering contests?
No … but the contests sure HELPED!
Another scenario.
A scriptwriter friend entered her screenplay in the Nicholl Fellowship. This is one of the TOP contests for screenplays.
Every years thousands of people enter their scripts into the competition. The competition goes through several rounds.
She made it into the 3rd from the top round. And based on her placement was able to get a top Hollywood agent. That agent put her together with an Independent producer who worked with her to further develop the script and to “shop” it around.
The result? We’ll just have to wait and see.
The point here is, that just “placing” in the Nicholl Fellowship competition gave her career a boost that may otherwise have taken years … or that may not otherwise have happened.
Third scenario
You love cooking and want to write your first cookbook. How can you get an agent? How can you get publishers to even look at your book proposal? WIN a boatload of recipe writing and cooking contests. Do you think an agent or a publisher is going to ignore the $million dollar winner of the Pillsbury Bakeoff? NOT likely.
And the third scenario is not limited to cooks. Artists, web designers, niche experts … can all enhance their “credibility” and calling cards with a few wins under their belts.
OK … you are convinced. Now which contests do you
enter?
If you are just starting out … find some of the free to enter contests. For the most part (cooking contests being the exception) free contests come with smaller prizes.
If you are looking for “career enhancing” try to choose contests that are run by writing communities or organizations … such as the Writer’s Digest contests or the Photo Life photography contest.
Look for contests where the judges are “named” and are respected members of the particular community you are wanting notice in. For example, if you are entering a mystery novel contest, having a “well-known mystery writer” as a judge will make a big difference. You can “drop” the name of the judge in your resume or
introductory letters.
Winning a contest from a private website and being chosen by an anonymous judge just because s/he “liked” your work just doesn’t have the same level of clout!
Look for contests with many categories or divisions and loads of prizes.
When entering “fee based” contests be sure the fee you are paying is proportionate to the prizes being given. There are contests that are run by private websites which charge fees disproportionate to the prizes being given. The purpose of these contests is to make money, not to enhance YOUR career.
To get you started there are LOADS of skill based contests at the
proofpositive.com and the contestguru.com websites.
RESOURCES
Lotto.Play To Win! How To Win The Lottery!
The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Book
How to Enter Screenplay Contest …And Win!, 2nd Edition
