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

As the Back-to-School sweepstakes begin to die down a new season of television programming is almost upon us. The networks are gearing up to promote their new Fall lineups and many will be running sweepstakes to get your attention.

The goal, of course, is to get as many eyeballs as possible on specific programs. Many will involve watching to get a code word displayed during the programs and entering the code online. Not all television sweeps are promoting new programs. Sometimes they are used to draw attention to an established series being put in a new time spot. These TV sweepstakes can be local as well as national. Frequently networks will state that a set number of prizes will be awarded in specific MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas). You want to be sure to get in on these! I know I sound like a broken record, but it's true...Local sweepstakes are the best!

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The Soup Scan Sweepstakes requires that you find a can of Campbell's soup with the new label and take a photo of you holding it. Sears Big Switch Sweepstakes allows you one entry online and one through Facebook, but if you really want to win one of the appliance packages worth thousands of dollars...

...you can submit an unlimited number of essay entries. Neither the photos nor the essays will be judged. These are not photo contests or writing competitions, but these methods of entry will scare off a large percentage of sweepers.  Most people are afraid of skill contests. The minute they saw that a photo was required they passed on entering the Campbell's cash sweepstakes. Many may enter the Sears Sweepstakes once through the online and Facebook entries, but they won't even try for the extra essay entries which is how they could really get ahead of the competition. Even knowing that the winners will be randomly selected, People just don't want to take the extra time or do the extra work.

Most sweepers are looking for the quick and easy entries, which could be to your benefit. If you are that rare person who is willing to do the extra work you will have way fewer entries competing with you for the prizes being offered. One fact I have learned over the years, the harder it is to enter, the easier it is to win!

To find the Soup Scan Sweepstakes on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list, do a Custom Search by typing the word soup in the Contest Name field. To find the Sears Big Switch Sweepstakes on the list type switch in the Contest Name field.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen

The DNC “Guest Experience Sweepstakes” is a travel sweepstakes that is giving four winners a choice of five fabulous destinations. One trip will be awarded every three months. The catch is that you are only allowed to enter once per month and since your entries roll over you don't want to miss a single month for a full year. So how do you remember to get those entries in when the rules only allow them once a week or month?

You could keep a calendar and write down all the limited entry sweepstakes you are interested in manually, a time-consuming job that takes you away from actually entering sweepstakes. And then you have to check your calendar regularly to see what entries are due...hoping you didn’t miss any! Or you can let the SweepsU.com Sweeps Management System (SMS) do it for you. Once you place a sweepstakes in your tracker, the SMS does all of this automatically and more! It warns you if you try to enter again too soon and it will not include limited entry sweepstakes in either your Daily Email Notifications or Sweeps Unleashed until another entry is due.  The SMS knows when you last entered and how often you are allowed to enter each sweepstakes and contest you are tracking.

So, to be sure that you get your entries in on ALL the great sweepstakes and giveaways without the hassle of keeping track of those dates yourself, give the SweepsU.com SMS a try. A 7-day free trial is just a click away!

To find the DNC “Guest Experience Sweepstakes” on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list, do a Custom Search by typing dnc in the Contest Name field. To find sweepstakes that only allow you to enter once a week or month, click on “by Frequency” and select “Weekly” or “Monthly”.

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

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

Upromise “Back To School Pop Quiz Daily Prize Giveaway” and Bar-S $10,000 Back to School Sweepstakes are both offering multiple prizes to make it easier on your wallet as you get the kids ready to go back into the classrooms. It is definitely that time of year and "Back to School" sweepstakes are popping up everywhere as retailers do whatever they can to get your attention.

Be on the lookout for short running local promotions. Read the ads in your local newspaper carefully and keep an ear to your local radio stations. If you really want to get serious, then turn that dial frequently. Each radio station has a different set of clients and promotions you hear about on one station may not be on another. Another great source of local giveaways are the radio remotes where they broadcast live from a retail location. You only have a few hours to enter most of these and can frequently walk away with some very nice wins. One of the best starting places for finding information on what's happening in your area is your local sweepstakes club where members share information about local promotions. So, if you are alert and prepared to do a little footwork there are some wonderful opportunities in your future.

To find the sweepstakes mentioned above and other new sweeps featuring "back to school" prizes on the SweepsU.com Sweeps and Contests list, do a Custom search and type school in the Contest Name field. Remember you can now save these custom searches by clicking on the "Save" button in the top bar. A box will open in the left menu asking you to name your search. I named this one Back to School and clicked Save. Tomorrow morning I will click on "Saved Search" in the left menu and "Back to School" and all of the new and old sweeps and contests with the word school in the title will be listed for me. You can save as many different searches as you want and just delete them when you no longer need them. As always these features can be used on both the main list and within your own tracker.

Take care and win BIG!

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

There are a lot of rumors floating around about people who enter sweepstakes on a regular basis and (OMG) win lots of prizes!  Some people say that all sweepstakes are scams and the winning stories they hear are put out by the scammers to lure new people in. Others say you have to be really “lucky” to win and don’t even try. And then there are those who tell me, “I entered one once, didn’t win, and knew it was a rip off!”

Well, I am living proof that all of these statements are incorrect! Sure there are scammers out there and you do want to be cautious about what you enter, but there are thousands of legitimate sweepstakes as well. Do you honestly believe that major companies would scam you? Come on, they are pedaling as fast as they can to get consumers to use their products. The last thing they want is bad PR. They will do everything possible to draw your attention to those products and that includes giving away some fantastic prizes. What may seem like unbelievable jackpots to you are just peanuts in the marketing budgets of major corporations. Marketing firms know that the way to get the public’s attention is to give them something to dream about and associate with the product they are trying to sell. Federal Law makes it very clear that once that promotion is advertised it must be completed right up to the distribution of the prizes listed in the rules.

As for being “lucky” in order to win, I spell luck…W-O-R-K! The old saying is very true; if you don’t enter you cannot win. I only win prizes from approximately 10-15% of the sweepstakes and contests I enter and the majority of those are lower level prizes (t-shirts, ball caps, CDs, etc.). The trick is to keep entering and don’t get discouraged. If you continue to enter consistently you are bound to win something along the way. There are methods to up your odds, just read some of my articles in the Sweeps University section of SweepsU.com to learn more about them.

So what about the people who say they gave it a shot and didn’t win anything? If a man goes fishing and doesn’t get a nibble the first time he puts his line and hook in the water, does he have the right to say no one really catches fish. Others couldn’t possibly have caught anything just because he didn’t.  That’s ridiculous, as are people who say they entered a sweepstakes once and didn’t win therefore all sweepstakes are just scams. Anything worthwhile requires a bit of time and persistence. You are not going to win everything you enter, but if you stick with it and enter consistently for several months there is a good chance that you will win something.

One thing that will help you in getting started is a good source of sweepstakes to enter and a system to keep track of them. That is where SweepsU.com comes in. We plan to launch the website by the end of June 2010 with a Community area that allows you to really get to know your fellow sweepers through Blogs, Forums and My Community, an up to date list of current sweepstakes, an absolutely one-of-a-kind Sweepstakes Management System (SMS) created by my partner, Gerald Anderson, and a Sweeps University section where you can read articles that will help to educate you on the “how to’s” of sweepstaking and contesting.

We are currently accepting applications for Beta Testers on SweepsU.com, but there is a waiting list. It will be several days before you receive an email invitation after you fill out and submit the Beta Tester application.  Once you are invited to log in you will have full access to all of the programs on SweepsU.com for just over a month before we launch the website. This includes well over 1,000 current sweepstakes on the Sweeps List that should help to get your sweepstaking off to an excellent start.

I can't wait to hear about all the wonderful prizes you win!

Gwen Beauchamp

With five children in the Beauchamp household it required every cent Robert and I could scrape together to keep them clothed, fed, and most importantly, up with the Joneses. That took some doing when most of the families on our block had only two children and they were all constantly showing off the cool "stuff" their parents bought them. Then we discovered sweepstaking and our offspring no longer said "we never go anywhere/do anything!" As Mom and Dad learned the "ins" and "outs" of the sweepstaking hobby our children benefited greatly. No more did they just sit at home with nothing to do. Hardly a week went by that we didn't win tickets to area events, movies, concerts, sports games, festivals and so much more. Nothing seemed to be out of our reach.

The Beauchamp Family and Circus Friends - Gwen & Joy are on either side of the clown on the floor, Robby is behind Gwen and Amy is directly above him with Debbie on her left, Terri is in the red shirt next to the Ring Master and Robert (Dad) is taking the picture.

On several occasions we won suites at area events like Dallas Cowboys football, Texas Rangers baseball, Mesquite Rodeo and even a Brittney Spears concert. These were wonderful, because they made it possible for the entire family to attend. I even won a VIP circus experience of 10 tickets to not only see the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus, but go backstage to visit with the performers, clowns, animals and participate in some of their stunts. But most ticket prizes were distributed in 2's and 4's so we had to take turns with who got to go to what. Our son became especially good at passing on one event if he thought there might be something better coming up and he was usually right. That boy attended more sports games growing up than most kids dared to dream about.

Amy and Gwen boarding Premiere Cruise Lines Atlantic.

The trips were a bit more challenging to distribute among such a large family, but we used a seniority system whenever possible. Amy was oldest so she got to accompany Mom on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas. Terri was next, which was good, because none of the others could take her place on a trip from Parade magazine to France for ten days. Mom also won a trip to Cancun for Terri's senior trip, but when the sponsor offered a cash alternative Terri took the money and bought her first car. Robby didn't get a trip until his senior year of high school when Mom bowed out and let him take a friend to Cancun. It was many years later when the stories from that trip made it to Mom's ears that I seriously questioned my sanity during my children's teen years!

Newspaper article announcing the junior high and high school winners of the Young Columbus trip to France.

Debbie earned her own first trip at age 14 when she made the mistake of telling Mom, "I'm bored". She was immediately presented with a stack of envelopes, papers and a list of sweeps for kids and told to "get busy". It paid off BIG TIME when she spent a week at Space Camp in Alabama that same summer. She also accompanied Mom on the Frito-Lay Ultimate Fan Sweepstakes where we sat on the front row of Reba McEntire's concert and met Reba afterwards. That was a 16th birthday to remember!

Debbie, Reba McEntire and Gwen

Joy is the youngest of our brood and has probably traveled the most. She has been on four trips to Disney Parks, two to Sea World, one to New York for the Garth Brooks concert in Central Park and at age 14 she was one of 15 U.S. kids selected to be a ball girl at the World Cup Soccer games in France. That trip was for three, so Mom and Dad got to accompany her on the flight to Paris, France where we stayed at the EuroDisney Resort and enjoyed the wonders of France courtesy of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola winners entering the Euro Disney theme park (Joy is second from the left wearing sunglasses)

What a difference sweepstaking has made in our lives and the lives of our children. And now Granny is scoring big with the grand-kids especially after Debbie and her daughter, Tapanga, were flown to the Houston Stock Show and Rodeo with tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert. I was personally told that I am the "coolest grandmother in the world" and it only took one postcard entry to be elevated to that status.

So what about you? What sweepstakes or contest prizes have you won for your kids? Leave a comment below and tell us about the sweepstaking experiences your children have had courtesy of a "Sweepstaking Mom"! We want to hear all about the fabulous mothers who enter sweepstakes and what they are winning for themselves and their families!

As for the rest of you, DO NOT FORGET your mother! Tomorrow is her special day and you have the best prize of all wrapped up in one very wonderful woman! Make sure she knows that!

Gwen Beauchamp