Show Stop Don't Toss That Sweepstakes Form Away You Really Can Win! By Suzy KoJter you've opened your mailbox found a sweepstakes' offering sitting inside there’s a chance you threw it right in the garbage And as you did you probably said to yourself nobody ever wins these things anyway Well you were wrong Somebody really does win And you don't give K a try you II never know If it could have been you What arc your chances of winning $100000 from the Publishers Clearing House or Reader's Digest Sweepstakes? Can the trip to Hollywood for you and your cat offered by one company rrafly be yours? Are these things actualy on the level? Contests and sweepstakes are legitimate because they're regulated by the Federal Trade Commission So believe it or not you really do have a dunce for the money or trip or car or year's supply of tuna fish The odds of you being the winner depend on how many other people enter the contest As many as eight million Americans — many of them professional contestants — have already realized that you really can get something for nothing — or almost nothing Contests and sweepstakes are two different things A sweepstakes Is a general offering to the public of cash prizes or both You need not be a member of any organization to enter or a subsctfcer to any particular magazine The Government clearly notes that sweepstakes for which you pay an entry fee arc lotteries which arc an entirely different matter and may or may not be legal in your state Sweepstakes are free and usually require no talent to win They are usually held by the manufacturers of some product who are trying to gain as much recognition for their product as possMe Sweepstakes are often advertised in magazines and are usually held on a national scale Most grocery stores maintain bulletin boards with the latest information and entry blanks for the current sweepstakes Heed final closing dates! Contests on the other hand usually involve some type of drill on your part — such as composing a Jingle writing your feelings about a product in 25 words or less or even something physical fike watermelon-see- d spitting They may or fee and they may have an not entry may or may not be open to the public Two Bake-Of- f popular contests are the Pilbbury and the National Chicken Cooking Contest Though more difficult than sweepstakes contests may be easier to win because of the odds "You have to write simply and stupidly to win these contests but that takes When Suzy KoJter once won a coffee coke Si o bakery sweepstakes when the was 13 brains" says William Sunners the grandfather of contestants and the king of 25 words or less Sunners 75 has won four diamond rings three automobiles three sets of encyclopedias six television sets five watches 10 radios two washing machines three toasters one set of golf dubs two complete wardrobes 960 cans of tuna fish and a good amount of cadi (AD of which he has reported to the IRS) Sunners notes that your chances of winning a highly advertised sweepstakes are equal to those of finding a $1000 bill in a taxi cab But winning contests is another matter and Sunners offers suggestions on how to do it in his book How to Win Prise Contests which was first published by him in 1950 and has subsequently sold 100000 copies He says the secret to his winning Is the letter “O" — standing for enter “often" and be “organized” Another master of the art is Selma Ghsset of Borough Park NY who teaches a class on the subject at Brooklyn College as wel as a correspondence course Mrs Glasses has won trips a mink coat a freezer a car and cash as well as a date with Sid Caesar the best type of contests and to enter are regional ones — which attract fewer entrants — and requirement contests which immediately disqualify a great number of people For instance the annual Meow a sweepstakes that ofMix Meow Off fers you and your cat an paid trip to Hollywood and an audition for — your cat in his own commercial least stipulates that all entrants own at one cat “It's not winning or losing but how you play the game” notes Susan Subtle one of the authors of The Contest Book (Harmony Books) the first book for contestants that will inevitably become the bible on the subject (It ksts 300 national contests and how you can enter) There arc also several newsletters directed at professional contestants who earn their living — or a large part of their annual income — from contests “I entered every sweepstakes I could over the years” explains Mary Gross of Los Angeles “You know the ones that came in the mailbox I entered the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes along with all the rest and they called and said my husband and 1 won a trip to New York and $1000 to be in the finals When we got to New York the man there took out his wakt and gave us a check for $125000” The Gross's paid about $35000 in taxes on that money but earned an additional $13000 last year by doing television commercials certifying that they are genuine winners 1 dreamed about it but I never thought I'd RM Often - win" -- SsStfS 50 Novamtar 4 1TS B 8 DISCOUNT IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS A GFTOFLOVE A TOUCH OF WARMTH r 10 DAY FREE TRIAL COUPON DOMINION DIST BOX 47 DepLFW-110North ridge Cal 91326 4 AID I OF JESUS enclosed $895 2 for $1595 Please rush my LED inspirational cross I complete as soon as possible must be 100 delighted or I can return same tor ful 1 refund within 10 days IN SPANISH Order extras as BORN AGAIN 554 pp 3 for gifts $2295 and save NAME ADORESS CITY FAMILY WEEKLY 3 STATE KM Kndaxe add ZIP him im) — J |