I have been winning contests for over 25 years! I have won a trip to Mexico, I am writing this guide on a laptop I won! I won a thousand dollars just last month! I have won a  NEW Lincoln Continental!

How does one go about being a sucessful contest winner? There are some simple guidelines Iwill share with you. Some do's and don'ts, and the final element to all this is with a little bit 'o luck you too can have some free goodies that are always being given away! I started winning free concert tickets on the radio years ago simply by having the radio station's winner line programmed into my speed dial. Now I have a cell phone and I can dial two phones when a concert that I want to see is in my area, add a fax line and your odds go up! A guideline to winning is simply 1) Do I want the item that is being given away? If you set your sites on a cruise to Alaska, you will be a little hard pressed to come to that finality. But, not to be discouraged it can be done: do a web search for contests to Alaska, follow the rules of the organization offering the prize and hope you win. The odds are ususally based on the number of entrants. I won a trip to Mexico on a radio station giveaway, I entered a mere seven postcards, (this was in the day of my just beginning to enter contests) and my name was chosen, it was an all inclusive trip to Cozumel and my wife and I had a great time! 2) Is the contest a national contest open to all ages with national advertising exposure? These contests are very hard to win, there are real pro's out there looking to win with thousands of entries per person/entity. I would steer clear of this 'class' of contest as it could be a financial or time drain, postage has gone up and you will get writers cramp filling out postcards. I am not saying it cannot be done, but who needs to work that hard? These larger contests with pro's entering have helped lead to those wavy lines you have to enter in some computer forms as they are now using computers to quickly fill in the blanks to win these contests. This type of contest is also time consuming for you, if the contest rules permit more than one entry per person, or per day, you must have the time available to come back day after day to enter that contestGuideline 3) I just say steer yourself to the more local contest. Where the number of entrants are small. They're recognizeable by the short duration that they have to the drawing date. When I won the Lincoln Continental, my wife and I put up $100.00 at a local organizations fundraiser. There were only 400 entrants for the car, and we were pulled the winners that night! So, try to find those contests that are low in the number of entrants, your odds will go up! In this age of the computer you have an amazing portal to the world at your fingertips. Whether shopping/selling on Ebay or searching for that little pot of gold. 4) Use the internet to search out your winnings, I won this wonderful $1000.00 laptop from a nice magazine that was holding an anniversary giveaway. They gave away fifteen laptops in as many weeks. I merely entered weekly and was called to be told I won! I really like it too, they threw in a bag to carry it in! Finally, 5) Watch your junk email, it is not always junk. Of course you know the difference between spam and an offer from an organization you joined a few months back. I did and entered a little contest with a duration of only three weeks! It was for the announcement of a low/mid budget film.  I entered this contest, moved on in my life and never gave it a second thought. When I got a phone call the other day and was told I was the Grand Prize Winner! I, of course had to ask of what contest? They informed me of the film that was being promoted and I won $1000.00 in a large banks pair of gift cards to be used anywhere for anything! I was so happy and humble saying thank you for your prize Mr. Film Promoter! So, the rules are simple: Follow them, always take a quick read of them, it could be the difference of a one time entry, or filling out multiple forms that may disqualify you. You may work for the company giving the prize away, disqualifying you. Have some post cards on hand for that quick impulse contest you saw in a magazine. Fill in those funny little pieces of paper that go into tumblers, you just might win a shopping spree at your local mall. Final story: My wife and I were on a trip to Vegas, there was a huge tumbler on Freemont St. (They do everything big there, No?), we filled in maybe three forms each? My wife was called three weeks later and was a winner for a trip for two to Vegas to participate in a larger contest for $25,000. Of course we checked out who these people were. They were legitimate and off we went to Vegas where she came in second place out of 50 sub winners. The prize: $2000. in gift cards to a LARGE department store. She just missed first prize. Oh well, we will keep trying.  'With a little bit of luck you can win too!' Good luck, and win yourself some gold, it's out there!