It's finally here and I am so excited! The 21st Annual National Sweepstakes Convention better known as "Lucky 21", where sweepers from all over the country come together to...what else...discuss sweepstakes! I absolutely love getting to visit with all my sweepstaking friends and making new ones as well. I have one whole weekend to talk about 3x5s, NAZs, SASEs and AMOEs without having anyone look at me like I've  lost a screw upstairs.

This is going to be such a blast! There will be speakers and socials and prize drawings. A vendor room full of all the sweepstaking supplies you can imagine. Bob M. and Gail U. are heading up this year's event and I just know it will be the best one yet! If you aren't able to go this year, you can still get in on some of the fun! I'll be posting pictures on SweepsU.com regularly or as often as possible. Sorry folks, not even for SweepsU.com am I going to miss out on any of the fun! If you are not attending this year's convention, then start making plans to join us next year.

A list of sweepstakes abbreviations can be found in Sweeps University by following this path: Sweeps University - Library - General Sweeping Articles - Sweepstakes Abbreviations

Minnesota...here we come!

Gwen Beauchamp

Mitsubishi's Win a Trip to Japan Sweepstakes will award one lucky person a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto, while the TripAlertz™ Pre-Launch Sweepstakes will be giving 251 people a hotel package of their choice.

Trip and Vacation Sweepstakes are a great way to see the world on a budget and they are the most frequently offered sweepstakes prize. But remember they are not totally free. Uncle Sam will be asking for his share of anything you win. So watch the prize value and make sure you can afford to pay the taxes before you enter.

To find trips to foreign countries on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list do a Search "by Prize" and select "Travel - International". To find trip sweepstakes awarding hotel only or airfare only select "Travel - Partial". To find trips to a specific location do a Custom Search and type japan (or hawaii, vegas, disney, etc.) in the Prize Description field.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

Breyer's Sundae Scoop Off is the perfect food contest for beginners. All you have to do to enter this online competition is create an ice cream sundae using Breyer's delicious flavors. They even provide you with tips from one of the top dessert experts in the country, Gale Gand.

If a great excuse to make ice cream sundaes doesn't motivate you to get in on this skill contest, the prize just might! A whopping $10,000 goes to the winner along with a trip for four to Chicago where you will have a private cooking lesson with Gale Gand. I don't know about you, but that's all I need to hear...I am entering this one big time! I love this woman and actually got to meet her years ago as a finalist in a cooking contest where she was one of the judges. At the time, Gail was the host of "Sweet Dreams" on the Food Network, she has authored several dessert cookbooks, is executive pastry chef of TRU and she created and distributes her own brand of root beer. The woman is incredible!

So, everyone head to the store and pick up a couple cartons of Breyer's Ice Cream along with all the extras that you love to sprinkle, pour or pile on top. Your family will sing your praises and we promise not to tell them you are doing it for a food contest.

Gale Gand and Gwen Beauchamp at the Whirlpool Accubake Unique Cake Contest in Atlanta, GA.

To find the Breyer's Sundae Scoop Off Contest on the Sweepstakes and Contest list, do a Custom Search and type brey in the Contest Name field. To view all the current recipe contests on SweepsU.com select "by Type" and Recipe/Cooking/Food Contest.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

Right now there are over 100 Instant win games and sweepstakes listed on SweepsU.com giving away hundreds and even thousands of prizes.  There is no waiting for a prize draw, because you win… INSTANTLY!

Office Depot is running two instant win competitions simultaneously, one for teachers with 10 winners of a $500 gift card each day and one for the general public with 50 winners of a $100 gift card each day. We heard from a very excited SweepsU.com subscriber who won one of the $500 gift cards this morning. Got Milk? started a new instant win promotion yesterday giving away over 50 prizes a day, including 30 laptop computers.

The best tip I can give you is to enter as often as the rules permit. It is very easy to get discouraged when entering this type of prize giveaway, but when you least expect it you will receive a “Congratulations” message that makes it all worthwhile. So, who wins Instant Win Sweepstakes and Contests? YOU, if you are persistent!

To find the Office Depot Teachers (& Shoppers) Go Back Smarter Instant Win Game on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list do a Custom Search by typing the word office in the Contest Name field. To find the got Milk? sweepstakes type the word milk in the Contest Name field. To find other instant win sweepstakes, select “by Type” and click on “IWG” or “SS & IWG”.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

FX Network Sons of Anarchy Sweepstakes is giving away seven (7) trips to LA. But before you enter make sure that you can travel on the specific dates for this trip.

Years ago, I won a Hercules and Xena sweepstakes (hey...I did say "years" ago!). The prize was an incredible trip for two to Solveng and LA, California for 16 winners (1 for each major city running the promotion) where we spent 4 days on a dude ranch and 2 at Universal Studios. Mine was not the first name pulled out of the hat though. #1 could not find anyone to keep their kids and after weeks of trying, declined the prize. A new name was drawn and once again it was not mine. #2 could not get off work and also declined the prize. By the time the judging agency drew my name the rep was prepared for another rejection. He asked me if I could possibly leave on a trip in 5 days. He was more excited than I was when I said "yes"!

The moral to this story is check the details on any travel sweepstakes before you enter to make sure that you can go. Time is valuable, don't waste a single minute entering something you can't win.

To find the FX Network Sons of Anarchy Sweepstakes on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list, do a Custom Search and type fx in the Contest Name field.

Winners of the Hercules/Xena Sweepstakes (November '95) in front of the SUV given to one of the 16 finalists at the end of an unbelievable week of luxury!

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The JW Marriott Indianapolis 30-Day Giveaway is giving away a fantastic trip to the Indy 500 and 30 $50 AMEX gift cards, but it has an extra perk as do many on line sweepstakes. If you tell others about it you will be entered to win the contest prize, in this case a $250 American Express gift card (same as cash in my book). Not the biggest prize around, but many people will shy away from it, because it is a small prize and a lot of extra effort is required to enter.

Anytime a promotion requires that the entrant do more than submit their NAZP, there is a drastic drop in numbers. Everyone wants to do the quick easy entries; few will make the effort to submit the harder ones. That’s why skill contests bring in only a fraction of the entries received in a sweepstakes. You have much better odds of winning a contest prize than you do of being a sweepstakes winner. Goes back to one of my favorite sayings: The harder it is to enter, the easier it is to win!

To find the JW Marriott Giveaway or the Forward to a Colleague Giveaway on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list do a Custom Search by typing jw in the Contest Name field.  To find other sweepstakes offering Cash Prizes, click on “by Prize” and select “Cash”.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen

A SweepsU.com subscriber received a phone call yesterday making arrangements for delivery of a foosball table on Wednesday.  She emailed us because it was a complete surprise and had to be from a sweepstakes she had entered, but which one? What a fun search that was…knowing that a prize on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list was being delivered to her house!

To help her find which sweepstakes she may have won I went to the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list and selected “by Status” from the Search list. I then selected “Expired”. Next I clicked on “Custom Search” and I typed the word foosball into the Prize Description field. Three different sweepstakes showed up instantly. They were the Unwind with Wave® Las Vegas Experience Sweepstakes giving away two Dynamo® Tornado Cyclone Foosball Tables, the Miller Lite Al Fin Futbol Sweepstakes giving away fifty (50) Miller Lite foosball coffee tables and the Combos® Snacks Man Zone Sweepstakes & Instant Win Game where a foosball table was included in a package of gaming prizes.

I’m betting that she won the Miller Lite Al Fin Futbol Sweepstakes, but we’ll find out for sure when she posts her win on the SweepsU.com “Wins” forum. Of course, I did the search from the main sweeps list, she can do the exact same search from within her tracker which only contains the sweepstakes and contests she has selected and entered. If she does this search in her tracker and just pulls up one of these sweepstakes, it’s a pretty good bet that’s the one she won!

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The Heinz & Chili's Ode To Awesome Instant Win Game and Denny's 2468 Home Run Challenge Sweepstakes are giving away thousands of gift cards for free meals.

You can try to win one of 157 $30 Chili's gift cards being given away daily (3,297 total) or just submit one entry (per household) to win a Denny's gift card from $10 to $50 in value (1,500 to be awarded). With so many prizes being offered your odds of winning one is much greater than a promotion offering only a few prizes. But you have to enter to win, so don't delay, especially on the Heinz Daily Instant Win Game where every day gives you a new chance to win!

To find the Heinz IWG on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contests list do a Custom Search and type heinz in the "Contest Name" field. To find the Denny's sweepstakes, just type denny in the "Contest Name" field. If you would like to find other sweepstakes offering gift cards as prizes, type gift card in the "Prize Description" field. We currently have 287 sweepstakes and contests listed on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contests list offering gift cards as prizes.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

21 years ago Robert and I sailed away on the Coca-Cola Isle of Dreams Treasure Hunt Cruise...along with 500 other winners. We boarded Carnival Cruise Line's Jubilee and departed for a private island in the Caribbean where we searched for hidden treasure.

I didn't do too good in the treasure hunt, my prize was a whopping $20. But I struck gold on that ship! Seven days on a vessel loaded with sweepstakers makes for one incredible week! I will never forget that first cruise and the thrill of meeting so many warm and friendly sweepers who were willing to teach this rookie the ropes.

We've had several other opportunities since then to travel with other sweepers. Those trips stand out as some of the best we have been on, all because of the friends we were able to share the experiences with. Our most recent one was last October when Robert won the Bud Light Port Paradise cruise. Bud Light selected 2,000 winners, each winner was allowed to bring one guest and we filled two Royal Caribbean ships as we sailed to Nassau and a private island in the Bahamas.

Bud Light is in the process of filling two more ships with winners to sail the Caribbean. Be sure to check out all the different opportunities you have to enter on the Sweeps list. Here are a few offering multiple trips:

Bud Light Port Paradise Sweepstakes
Sail to the Bahamas with 2,000 winners on the third Bud Light Port Paradise cruise. There is a charge of $190 per person ($380 if winner travels alone), but this is legitimate. Robert and I paid the fees last year and had the time of our life for less than the airfare for one person would have cost us. To see a video of the private concert by Dave Matthews Band that Bud Light treated us to on last year's cruise, go to My Community and click on the link to the video that a SweepsU.com subscriber posted.
To see a list of all the Bud Light promotions listed on SweepsU.com click on "by Custom Search" and type bud light into the Contest Name field. Many of these are for specific geographic regions and more are being added as we find them.

Blue Light "Refreshment Weekend" Sweepstakes
50 winners will travel to southern Vermont to attend a party with the Labatt Blue Light Refreshment Duo
To find this one on the sweeps list, click on "by Custom Search" and type refreshment into the Contest Name field.

Food Lion Keith Urban Sweepstakes
19 winners will attend a Backyard Barbeque in Nashville, TN with Keith Urban in October 2010.
To find it on the sweeps list, click on "by Custom Search" and type keith into the Contest Name field.

Good luck everyone!

Gwen Beauchamp

The week before Father's Day is loaded with great opportunities to win a prize or two for Dear Ole Dad! This is the week to be listening to your local radio stations...morning, noon and night. Those stations will be teaming up with area retailers to tempt you to come to their live remotes at specific locations and shop for the best gifts for Dad. The carrot they will be dangling to get you there is usually a giveaway with some very nice prizes.

Many of the radio stations also feature call-in-to-win sweepstakes where you have to be a certain number caller to win. There are frequently some great opportunities for winning by writing or calling in to tell them just how great your Dad is! Don't let the writing competitions scare you. You probably have plenty of good material to use if you just think about it. If you want some tips on how to come up with a well written entry, you can read my article in Sweeps University, titled "I Can't Write...". You'll have to speed things up on these entries though, cause most  local Father's Day sweeps and contests will end by Friday.

You may also find a few retailers running Father's Day sweeps in the store. Check your local newspaper and watch the ads for anyone having a giveaway and offering prizes that you are interested in. It could be a Mall, department store, drug store, gas station, barber shop, car dealership...these and many more will use prizes to lure in customers. Most of them will run right up until Saturday or Sunday to try and get those last minute shoppers to pick them. They may not draw until the week after Father's Day, so be sure and get Dad a gift while you are filling out those entry forms.

I have always said that local sweeps are the best! You are up against a fraction of the entries that are received in a national promotion. So give it a shot and then let us know how you did.

Happy Father's Day to all of the sweepers this holiday was created for! May you and your families spend a wonderful day together.

Gwen Beauchamp