Competition Prizes - Are They Worth The Entering?

Nowadays, there is a competition or giveaway for absolutely anything and everything and more and more people have become cynical about them.  I entered a Facebook competition a while back and two people had pretty much a go at me, advising me that it was a *con* and that it was just a marketing strategy.  To me, that is absolutely fine, it hasn't hurt me to enter, I just had to *Like* a Facebook post, no harm done. How on earth is it a con if I haven't paid anything to enter? If it's just to see how many people are watching their Facebook Page, then so be it, but it's cost me nothing to click that button and who knows, I could win a MacBook pro.  I (until very recently) worked for Play.com, a competitor of the likes of HMV & Amazon and we often had fantastic giveaways from our suppliers and distributors for our staff and our customers. We had a promo cupboard full of musical and film-based bullion and we could help ourselves as and when we pleased.  My colleague had a MacBook Pro tucked under her desk ready for a giveaway, when it was needed. My point is that this stuff sometimes can just be laying around in an office and it can be nice to sometimes give it away or raffle it off, so why would I NOT enter other competitions with other companies, you really just never know... You might just win the prize! I even had a fantastic giveaway on my blog myself recently, thanks to the lovely Alison Appleton (a designer of the most beautiful Afternoon tea sets) of which you can read about here.  I can say quite honestly, that I was a cynic myself until very recently, but since I started entering a few competitions here and there, I realised my chances were actually quite good, as I was starting to win a fair few prizes and some were simply AMAZING! Check out just some of the things that I have won this year (so far!) just by the click of a button or a quick session as part of *Entering into the spirit* of the competition... A Private Lunch for 2 in London with Gregg Wallace (of BBC's Masterchef)- it was amazing! A Mulberry Ipad Case from John Lewis (as part of Cambridge Style Week) 2 tickets to join the Cambridge Food Tour (a Facebook Valentine's Competition) - Blog to follow! Lunch for me & a friend to the value of £10 at D:licious Coffee & Sandwich Bar A
Special edition "Emma Bridgewater for Comic Relief" shopping bag £40 towards a meal at La Margherita in a raffle for a Papworth Trust charity night £25 Premium Bonds, which took ages to claim, as change of address caused issues! So, my opinion on competitions has changed ever so slightly, believe it or not ; )  You have got to be in it to win it... the above is simple proof of this and as a result, my life has become more exciting and it's given me things to look forward to that I wouldn't normally have had to look forward to or enjoy, even leading to some exciting conversations with the prize givers! I have recently also got involved in judging The Cambridge Bake Off (with 2 more rounds to go!) and 100 contestants got through to the first round, all very talented bakers and although there will only be one winner in the last round, it was worth them all entering for the experiences they've been given as bakers. Competitions are around in every way, shape & form and it's very exciting to get involved. So next time you question if it's worth pulling that silly face, making that oddly themed cake, taking that inspiring photo or answering a question in a simple box, or if entering that competition sounds too good to be true... it might just prove you wrong.  Miss Sue Flay