Going crazy for competitions

Flick through a magazine and you’ll always come across a competition or two. I have often wondered who actually enters them. Well, it turns out that an awful lot of people do. Enough people, that is, to fill a large postal sack to the brim – and almost crash my email every day over the course of two months – following a successful competition placement arranged on behalf of one of our clients.

Who knows what our long-suffering postman must have thought as he turned up each day with so many postcards that he had to resort to delivering them in plastic crates?! Luckily with postal entries, you knew that – after the morning delivery – that was it for the day. Emails, on the other hand, are a completely different game. Pop down to the shops for a sandwich and 70 more would arrive; go away for the weekend and the inbox went crazy.

The effort that some people went to was incredible. Among the entries we received were a selection of handmade cards and envelopes, old Mother’s Day cards reconfigured to make them fit for purpose, A4-sized pieces of pink card, little Post-it notes, the backs of cereal or cat food boxes…and a recipe for cranberry and brie tartlets. There was a card commemorating Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, as well as one of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

 In total, over the two months during which the competition ran, we had an unbelievably high number of entries – over 12,000 by email and almost 6,000 postal replies.

If you weren’t near a Morrisons supermarket to pick up the in-store magazine during the competition period, and missed the chance to enter, why not treat yourself to a prize-worthy stay anyway at St George’s, Llandudno or Hatherley Manor in the Cotswolds?! I know I could do with a short break… Helena Hamlyn.