  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: terryjroo
More Newsletters By This Editor 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
| The abundance of contests and activities offered at Writing.com, help to create the most exciting and fun website for writers. The Contest and Activities Newsletter is provided each month to, not only assist you in keeping up with the latest and greatest items, but to help assure that, if interested, you have the tools necessary to run a successful contest or activity. Enjoy this issue and please feel free to comment at the bottom! terryjroo |
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Raffles
At Writing.com, raffles have become a common thread in the fabric of activities. The basic definition of a raffle is: a lottery in which a number of persons buy chances to win a prize. This holds true here as well. The basic premise for most WDC raffles is that you purchase virtual tickets with gift points in hopes of winning part of the total amount raised by the sale of all the tickets. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of winning, but, like all raffles, it is a game of chance and you could walk away empty-handed.
Raffles typically raise gift points for either the host of the raffle, a charity group or both. Often the host will keep a percentage of the total gift points raised to be used for an upgrade or other event they are sponsoring (i.e. a contest or group). This percentage will vary depending on each host. The host may also give a percentage to a charity group as well. The remaining gift points will go to the winner or winners of the raffle. Some raffles give away other things besides just gift points. I’ve seen upgrades, reviews, merit badges, awardicons, etc. given away as prizes. All of these items are terrific prizes for raffles.
If you’d like to host a raffle, keep in mind the following:
 Set up the Raffle Using a Forum By using a forum this assures you that you have plenty of room for multiple posts.
List the Terms of the Raffle Clearly Make sure you list the dates the raffle will be running, or list the number of tickets that must be sold before the winner is drawn.
List the Prizes Accurately show the prizes being given away. If you are keeping or giving away a percentage of the gift points raised, state that, along with the percentage the winner/winners will be receiving. It’s always nice to keep a tally of the gift point amounts in the body of the forum as well.
List the Ticket Holders Either in the forum or in a separate static item, keep a list of the ticket holders and the ticket numbers assigned to them. If you use a static item, provide a link to it in the forum.
Send Out Emails to Ticket Holders When someone buys tickets from you (usually by posting a message in your forum or emailing you and then sending you the appropriate gift points), it is standard practice to send them an email confirming their purchase and listing their ticket numbers. This especially holds true if someone purchases tickets anonymously for another member. I find it helpful to send an email to both the purchaser and the receiver of the tickets.
Choosing a Winner or Winners The majority of raffle hosts use virtual dice to pick their winner or winners, but you can certainly do it any way you want. Virtual dice just seems to be the easiest way and assure that the winner is, in fact, a random winner. You can find virtual dice here: http://www2.writing.com/main/tools/action/roll_dice Or you can find them under the Site Navigation Menu “Site Tools” then click on “Virtual Dice”.
Announcing the Winner/Winners Post a message in your forum listing the winner or winners. If you plan on running the raffle multiple times you can even create a static item to list the past winners and what they won.
Closing your raffle When you complete the raffle (if you will not be running additional rounds) it’s a good idea to either change the title adding “closed” to the end or change the description and state that it’s closed. It also helps to post a message in the forum.
For more ideas, check out the raffles below in the Editor’s Picks.
I hope you’ve found this issue helpful!
terryjroo
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 Winner receives 500,000 gift points! Tickets are 1000 gift points each and winner will be drawn once 1000 tickets are sold.
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 Win a one month, two month or three month upgraded membership! Tickets are 500 gift points each and winners will be drawn once 1000 tickets are sold.
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 Round 3 - two winners will receive a percentage of the gift points raised plus reviews! Tickets are 500 gift points each. Hurry, last day to purchase tickets is June 16!
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 Round 6 - one winner will receive 50% of the total gift points raised. 25% of the gift points will be donated to a charity (RAOK this month) and 25% of the gift points go to the host. Tickets are 500 gift points each.
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 Three winners win a percentage of the total gift points raised plus reviews. 50% of the gift points go to the host for an upgrade. Tickets are only 200 gift points each.
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Besides raffles, here are a couple of other things to keep you busy over the summer!
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Contests & Activities: June 14, 2006 Issue [#1091]
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