By admin 
Women’s Super League tickets, £150 supermarket vouchers and sporting goods are among the prizes Kate Chapman has won for her family
“You have to be there to win it!” I tell my husband as he rolls his eyes – again.
I ignore his expression and continue entering my details into the form on my phone. I feed mine 20th competition of the day, convinced that I will win a luxury holiday, a technology bundle or a cash prize.
I’ve always liked competitions. I was about eight years old when I achieved my first victory and came third in a garden center coloring competition. I won a miniature Christmas tree and a voucher and my photo was published in the local newspaper.
Over the years I have enrolled a few others here and there limited success. My prizes included a couple of books (in the pre-internet days of postal mail), a £250 voucher to spend at a clothing retailer – I can still remember the disappointment of having money to burning and still not finding anything I liked – and a £50 voucher to an online store.
A bicycle helmet signed by Bradley Wiggins was delivered to our home after I posted a photo of a Lego Olympic scene my kids built on Samsung’s Facebook page. People were asked to share photos of themselves in honor of the 2016 Rio Games, promising prizes in return for the best. We had no idea what we had actually won until it arrived.
But it was last December when I got real addicted to compas known to enthusiasts like me. Every other post on social media seemed to be a Christmas present. I had already scrolled past a few when I thought, “Why not? If you don’t participate, you don’t win.”
Kate won a £60 Cineworld voucher in a writing competition
Whether it’s for me or for my family and friends, I love winning things. In today’s cost of living crisis, an extra treat, big or small, can go a long way in spreading some much-needed relief. I love the buzz of receiving an email or text message starting with “Congratulations..!” and who doesn’t enjoy a free day out?
I found most of the matches Facebook, X and Instagram required little effort, requiring me to comment, tag a friend, share a post, or fill out a form with my name and email address. Quite exciting: my first winning notification via X arrived on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for the smart TV, the air fryer or the expensive perfume I was craving, but for a framed photo of a football player – which my 12 year old son was very happy with.
Nevertheless, a win was a win and the thrill of this small victory spurred me on to participate more, and the more I participated, the more giveaways I saw popping up on my social media feeds. There were some great prizes to be won and I thought I had as good a chance of winning as anyone else.
While scrolling, I came across the Lucky Learners Facebook page, run by comp queen Di Coke. She has won thousands of pounds in prizes and built a community of twenty thousand colleagues, who share giveaways and celebrate each other’s victories. I enjoy reading their success stories; they encourage me to continue. I’ve even made a few comping friends to tag online so I don’t keep spamming friends and family who aren’t that interested in my new hobby.
Thanks to the forum I also picked up some useful tips and learned about the different types of competition, including instant wins (where you find out immediately if you’ve won), text to win and ‘purchase necessary’. ones, where you have to buy a certain product to participate. There’s also an effort-based approach, which requires participants to submit a themed photo, create a video, or go the extra mile in some way to participate.
The forum also offers advice on the best ways to increase my chances of success. The general consensus is to enter early in the day for winning moments or instant wins, and that effort-based comps tend to attract fewer entries, meaning your chances are better.
Not long after I first collected tips like these, I had my own little winning streak to celebrate.
After downloading the Coca Cola and Pepsi apps to my phone, I won a £20 Domino’s Pizza voucher, a Greggs meal deala football and a T-shirt. I won a one-month TNT pass through a Tesco text-to-win competition, and a £60 Cineworld voucher in another text competition.
Kate has won tickets to Super League matches and theme parks
I entered the draw again to win £10,000 but ended up with the runners-up prize: a cricket set and a voucher for online cricket store The Hundred, which I used to buy a shirt for my son. Other prizes include a family swim pass, a Cluedo game, around £150 worth of supermarket vouchers, plus some sweets and chocolates, a pair of bucket hats worth £24 and another football, which arrived in the post – although I have no idea where from.
The most success I had was with Cadbury’s 200th anniversary competition. I purchased a qualifying bar and entered the batch number and barcode, along with a few personal details, into the website. There were 20 entries allowed per person and we each won two tickets to Alton Towers, Legoland, Thorpe Park and the Sea Life Centre, several Sky shopping vouchers and four WSL tickets to watch Arsenal v Manchester United. These are all valid until next year, so it promises to be something great days out with my family.
My son’s primary football team has also benefited from a windfall of new kit and equipment after I shared a text giveaway with the parents in our WhatsApp group and encouraged them to enter too. Several did so and one won one of the top prizes.
I only enter giveaways for things I want to win, although some of my prizes have been smaller prizes, runners-up, usually claimed by my children.
As far as hobbies go, comping is just like anything else: it’s only as expensive as you make it yourself. So far it hasn’t cost me much. I avoid contests that require an entry fee, with the exception of a few text contests, which have cost me about 20 cents each. When it comes to purchase-necessary contests, I have limited myself to purchasing only products we already use and have not purchased anything in bulk in an attempt to secure a win.
Di Coke recently launched a new Lucky Legends forum, separate from her Facebook group, with hundreds of giveaways, all conveniently organized by category and type. This currently costs me £2.50 per month to access, while other forums such as Money Saving Expert, which also list competitions, are free to use.
I normally enter between 20 and 30 giveaways per day, although sometimes it can be more. Before I start work, I spend about half an hour filling out forms. I’ll probably participate a few more times scrolling my phone in the evening or while waiting to pick up my kids from their school bus and soccer practice.
I’ve yet to work up the courage to sign up for a radio competition or TV quiz, but it’s something I’d like to try in the future.
I have received comments like “you are so lucky” and “I never win anything” from a few friends and acquaintances when I have told them about my hobby, but when I press them further they admit that they hardly participate in competitions. I just smile at them and repeat my mantra: ‘You have to be there to win it!’ Like anything, it’s all about consistency.
It’s a philosophy I probably picked up from my grandmother. She enjoyed bingo and playing the lottery. She was convinced she would win the jackpot and share it with the whole family. I remember her bag was filled with all kinds of good luck charms, including a rather gruesome rabbit’s foot, which she used to rub for good luck, but unfortunately to no avail.
So, should I continue composing? With the goodies I collected, worth about £2,500, absolutely. The Advent competitions have already started and who knows what I will win next!