Once I first purchased the Neighborhood Information again in Feb. 1994, I knew I needed to get individuals not solely studying what we put into print, but in addition participating with our content material.
One of many methods I made a decision to make that occur was to place contests in these pages. We began with issues like labor-intensive, Gary-created crossword puzzles and Fantasy Baseball and Soccer contests, trivia contests (which have now been rendered out of date with the arrival of Google) and our hottest annual contest, our Reader Eating Survey & Contest, which continues to be going sturdy some 30 years since I began it.
Over time, I’ve added different contests, similar to our “Huge Sport Squares,” “March Insanity” and “Oscars” contests, however the timing from when both the Academy Awards nominations are introduced or the groups are set for the sports activities contests hasn’t all the time labored with our every-four-week deadlines.
This 12 months, nonetheless, we have been in a position to make each the “Squares” and “Oscars” (the latter with the delay within the announcement of the nominees and the televised broadcast each delayed by the California wildfires) contests work with online-only entries.
Whereas solely about 100 individuals whole entered this 12 months’s “Huge Sport” and “Oscars” contests, that doesn’t imply that people like (l.-r. above) Eddie Mancuso of Highwoods Protect, who gained the Grand Prize of $200 (he selected Stonewood Grill & Tavern); Lianne Kowiak of Arbor Inexperienced (with me), who gained $100 (and picked Ulele); and Wharton Excessive alum and West Meadows resident MaeLee Wealthy — who has been coming into our contests since her teenagers and who gained one of many two $50 prizes (to Hungry Crab Juicy Seafood) within the Squares contest — weren’t thrilled to win these Squares prizes. The fourth Squares winner, Allison Smith of Pebble Creek, hasn’t but obtained her $50 reward card to Grillsmith.
We even have three winners in our “Oscars” contests. Our Grand Prize winner — one among solely two contestants to appropriately decide the winners in six of the seven main Academy Awards classes, chosen at random, was Meadow Pointe resident Daybreak Kidle, who wins a $200 reward card to B&B Theatres at The Grove. The opposite tied contestant was John Bailey of Palatine, IL, who not solely doesn’t stay right here — he says he searched “Oscars Contests” on-line and entered all of them! — Illinois doesn’t actually have a B&B Theatre, so I mailed him a $60 reward card to AMC Theaters. There have been 4 contestants who appropriately picked 5 of the seven classes and that winner, drawn at random to obtain the $60 B&B reward card I purchased for John, is Gail Bialk of Watergrass. I simply gave Daybreak her prize (4th picture above) and I plan to offer Gail hers quickly!
We additionally now even have 25 native residents who’ve instructed us they wish to be judges in our contest to select the Wesley Chapel space’s favourite rooster restaurant. I’m nonetheless understanding the main points of how that contest will work, however I believe we now have sufficient potential judges to make it occur! Search for particulars in our subsequent subject (hopefully)!
So, why can we nonetheless have contests, with prizes we nearly all the time pay for ourselves (we often have had a restaurant comply with donate prizes, however that’s fairly uncommon)? Since most of us won’t ever win the Lottery or hit it massive in Vegas, it’s good to have a lot better odds of successful one among our contest prizes — and my pleasure to offer them. Congrats, winners!
