How to Win Online Competitions UK Guide

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Ever found yourself scrolling through Facebook and seeing a mate’s cousin has won a weekend away in the Cotswolds, and thought, “That never happens to me”? We’ve all been there. You chuck your name in the hat for a new telly or a year’s supply of biscuits, cross your fingers, and then… nothing. It can feel like it’s all down to pure, dumb luck.

But what if I told you it’s not? What if winning online contests was less about luck and more about strategy? Welcome to the world of ‘comping’—a very real, very British hobby where dedicated folks win everything from coffee machines to cars. These people aren’t luckier than you. They’re just smarter about how they play the game.

This isn’t just another list of generic tips. This is your ultimate guide to transforming from a casual entrant into a savvy, prize-winning pro. We’ll cover everything you need to know, from setting up your digital command centre to mastering the art of the tie-breaker slogan. Forget four-leaf clovers; your journey to becoming a ‘comper’ starts right here.

What is ‘Comping’? A Very British Hobby

Before we dive in, let’s get one thing straight. ‘Comping’ is the affectionate term for the hobby of entering competitions. It might sound a bit quirky, but it’s a serious pastime for thousands across the UK, who form a surprisingly tight-knit community online, sharing tips, celebrating wins, and cheering each other on.

From Postcards to Pixels: A Quick History

Comping isn’t a new phenomenon born from the internet. Your nan or grandad probably did it. Back in the day, it was all about postcards and slogans. Companies would run competitions in newspapers and on the back of product packaging, asking people to complete a sentence like “I love Brand X biscuits because…” in no more than ten words. People would spend hours crafting the perfect, witty response and post it off.

Then, the internet arrived and changed everything. The postcard pile was replaced by the entry form. Suddenly, you could enter hundreds of competitions in the time it used to take to write one slogan and walk to the postbox. The number of prizes exploded, and the community of compers grew with it. The core principle, however, has stayed the same: a little bit of effort can go a very long way.

Why We Love a Good Competition

So, what’s the appeal? Well, the obvious answer is the prizes. Who wouldn’t want a free holiday, a new kitchen, or a lifetime’s supply of tea bags? But for many compers, it’s about more than just the free stuff. It’s the thrill of the chase. Every entry is a little spark of hope. The notification email that starts with “Congratulations!” delivers a rush that’s hard to beat.

It’s a hobby that pays for itself. You can do it from your sofa with a cup of tea, it doesn’t cost a penny (most of the time), and the potential rewards are huge. It’s a bit of fun, a welcome distraction, and a chance to win something amazing.

Know Your Battlefield: Types of Online Contests in the UK

Before you can win, you need to know what you’re up against. Not all competitions are created equal. In the UK, they generally fall into two main legal categories, and understanding the difference is crucial to your strategy.

Prize Draws vs. Competitions: What’s the Difference?

You’ll see these terms used all the time, but they mean very different things. The UK’s advertising rulebook, the CAP Code, is very clear on this.

Prize Draws (or Sweepstakes): These are the simplest form of contest. Winning is based purely on chance. Think of it like a raffle or pulling a name out of a hat. You enter, and a winner is chosen at random. There’s no skill involved. Examples include newsletter sign-ups where a winner is picked from all subscribers, or a simple ‘like and share’ on social media.
Competitions: These require some level of skill from you. The winner is chosen based on merit, not luck. This is where you have to answer a question (that isn’t ridiculously easy), write a slogan, submit a photo, or create a video.

Why does this matter? Because competitions that require skill will always have fewer entrants than simple prize draws. Many people can’t be bothered with the effort. This is your golden opportunity. Your odds of winning are instantly much, much higher.

The Social Media Scramble

A huge number of contests now live on social media. They’re quick, easy, and a great way for brands to get attention. Here’s a breakdown of the most common types you’ll see.

Facebook: The classic is the ‘Like, Comment, and Share’ contest. You might be asked to like the page, like the post, and tag a friend in the comments. It’s simple, but be aware that asking you to share a post to your personal timeline is technically against Facebook’s rules, though many brands still do it.
Twitter (or X): The go-to here is the ‘Follow and Retweet’ competition. It’s a one-click entry and takes seconds. Because it’s so easy, the number of entrants can be enormous.
Instagram: This is a visual platform, so contests often involve more than just a follow. You’ll be asked to ‘Follow us, like this post, and tag a friend (or three!)’. Some will ask you to share the post to your story. The bigger prizes often involve User-Generated Content (UGC), where you have to post a photo or video using a specific hashtag.
TikTok: The new kid on the block. TikTok contests are all about creativity. Brands will often start a ‘challenge’, asking users to create a short video using a particular sound or effect. These are high-effort but can have massive prizes.

The “Effort” Tiers

A good way to think about your comping strategy is to break contests down into three tiers of effort.

Low-Effort (The Volume Game): These are your one-click entries, simple prize draws, and basic social media follows. They take seconds to enter.
- Pros: You can enter hundreds of these very quickly.
- Cons: The odds are tiny. You’re competing against thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of other people.
Medium-Effort (The Sweet Spot): This is where you have to do a little something extra. It might be answering a simple question, filling out a survey, or writing a short comment.
- Pros: The extra step puts a lot of people off, slashing the number of entrants. Your odds improve dramatically.
- Cons: They take a bit more time.
High-Effort (The Pro-Leaguer): These are the proper skill-based competitions. Submitting a photo, creating a recipe, writing a 25-word slogan, or making a video.
- Pros: These have the best odds by a country mile. You might only be competing against a hundred people, or sometimes even fewer. The prizes are often much bigger, too.
- Cons: They require time, creativity, and genuine effort.

A winning strategy involves a mix of all three. Play the volume game with low-effort entries to keep the small wins ticking over, but always keep an eye out for those high-effort contests where you can really shine.

The Comper’s Toolkit: Essential Gear for Success

You wouldn’t try to build a shed without a hammer and saw, and you shouldn’t get serious about comping without the right digital tools. Getting organised from the start will save you a massive amount of time and hassle.

Setting Up Your Command Centre

This is your foundation. Get this right, and everything else becomes easier.

Get a Dedicated Email Address: This is non-negotiable. Do not use your main personal or work email for comping. You’re going to be signing up for a lot of newsletters and websites, and your inbox will be flooded. Create a new, free email address (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) purely for your comping hobby. This keeps everything in one place and protects your main inbox from spam. Check it once or twice a day.
Use a Password Manager: You’ll be creating accounts on dozens of different websites. It’s tempting to use the same simple password everywhere, but that’s a huge security risk. A password manager (like LastPass, 1Password, or Bitwarden) will create and store strong, unique passwords for every site. You only need to remember one master password to access them all. Most browsers also have a built-in password manager which works just fine.
Auto-fill is Your Best Mate: Filling out the same details—name, address, email, phone number—over and over again is tedious. Set up the auto-fill feature in your web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari all have it). It will fill in entire forms with a single click, saving you precious time. Just double-check the details before you hit ‘submit’!

Finding the Good Stuff: Where to Hunt for Prizes

Okay, you’re set up and ready to go. Now, where do you find all these amazing competitions?

UK Competition Listing Sites: This is the best place to start. These websites do the hard work for you, gathering thousands of competitions from across the internet into one place. They’re the comper’s bible. The big three in the UK are:
- The PrizeFinder (theprizefinder.com): One of the longest-running and most popular sites. It’s well-organised and easy to navigate.
- Loquax (loquax.co.uk): Another giant of the UK comping scene. It has a great community forum where people share tips and wins.
- Competition Database (competitiondatabase.co.uk): A cleaner, more modern interface that many people prefer.
Social Media: Follow the hashtags. On Elon Musk’s X, and Meta’s Instagram, search for terms like #UKCompetition, #Competition, #Giveaway, #Win, and #PrizeDraw. You’ll find a constant stream of new contests. It’s also a good idea to follow your favourite brands, as they’ll often run competitions exclusively for their followers.
Magazines and Newsletters: Don’t forget the old-school methods! Many magazines (both print and online) have competition sections. Sign up for newsletters from brands you love. They often run prize draws that are only open to subscribers, which means much better odds for you.
Supermarket Sweep: Check out the magazines you get in supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, and Sainsbury’s. They are packed with competitions that many people overlook.

The Winning Strategy: From Casual Player to Pro Comper

This is where we separate the winners from the wishful thinkers. A strategic approach will massively boost your chances of success. It’s about working smarter, not just harder.

Rule Number One: Read the T&Cs!

I know, I know. It’s the most boring part. But skipping the terms and conditions is the biggest rookie mistake you can make. The T&Cs are the rulebook for the competition, and ignoring them can get you disqualified. You don’t have to read every single word of legal jargon, but you must check for these key things:

Closing Date and Time: Obvious, but easily missed. Make sure you don’t enter too late.
Eligibility: Is it open to UK residents only? Do you have to be over 18?
How to Enter: Does it say one entry per person? If so, don’t try to enter multiple times from different email addresses—promoters can and do check for this, and you’ll get disqualified.
The Prize: What exactly is included? If it’s a holiday, are flights and spending money included, or just the hotel?
Winner Selection: How will the winner be chosen? Is it a random draw or will it be judged? If it’s judged, what are the criteria?

Spending 30 seconds scanning the T&Cs can save you from wasting your time on a competition you can’t win.

The Numbers Game: Quantity vs. Quality

Should you enter everything in sight, or focus your energy on a select few? The best approach is a balanced one.

The Quantity Strategy: This works well for low-effort prize draws. The odds of winning any single one are low, but if you enter 100 of them, the law of averages says you should eventually win something. Dedicate a bit of time each day to rattling through the one-click entries on sites like The PrizeFinder. Think of it as planting lots of seeds—most won’t grow, but a few will.
The Quality Strategy: This is for the medium and high-effort competitions. Here, you focus your time on creating a brilliant entry. Instead of entering 50 random draws, you might spend an hour crafting one perfect slogan or taking a beautiful photo. Your chances of winning that single competition are now dramatically higher.

The sweet spot is doing both. Spend 20-30 minutes a day on the quantity game, and then set aside some time each week to tackle one or two quality competitions that play to your strengths.

Stand Out from the Crowd in Skill-Based Contests

This is your chance to leave luck behind. If a competition requires creativity, here’s how to give the judges what they want.

Tie-Breaker Slogans (TBLs): These are short, snappy lines, often finishing a sentence. The key is to be memorable. Think about rhymes, puns, and alliteration. Be positive and link your answer to the brand. If the slogan is for a chocolate bar, talk about indulgence and happiness. Read the brand’s website—what’s their tone of voice? Try to match it.
Photo Competitions: You don’t need a fancy camera; your phone is fine. But think about the basics. Good lighting is everything. Natural daylight is best. Make sure your subject is in focus. Think about the composition—what’s the story of the photo? If the theme is ‘family fun’, a picture of you all laughing in the park is better than a stiff, posed photo in your living room. Make it vibrant and full of life.
Video Entries: Keep it short and sweet. Under 60 seconds is usually best. Plan what you’re going to say or do. Don’t just waffle. Make sure the sound is clear—film somewhere quiet or use a microphone. And most importantly, have fun with it! Enthusiasm is contagious and judges love to see it.

Master the Social Media Maze

Social media comps are a minefield, but there are ways to improve your odds.

Engage, Don’t Just Enter: Don’t just be a ghost who appears to enter a contest and then vanishes. If a brand you like is running a competition, leave a nice comment on one of their other posts. Brands love to see genuine engagement and are sometimes more likely to pick someone who looks like a real fan.
Profile Polish: Make sure your social media profiles are public when you enter competitions, otherwise, the promoter can’t see your entry. It’s also a good idea to have a clear profile picture (of you, your pet, a nice landscape—anything but the default egg) and a bit of a bio. It makes you look like a real person, not a bot.
Tagging Etiquette: Many comps ask you to tag a friend. Don’t just tag the same long-suffering mate every time. Some serious compers create a small group or ‘comping crew’ of friends who are all into the hobby and agree to tag each other.

Advanced Tactics for the Serious Comper

Ready to level up? These are the tricks the pros use to get an edge.

Timing is Everything

When you enter can make a difference, especially for competitions judged by random algorithms.

Enter at Off-Peak Times: Many social media giveaways are ‘winning moments’ competitions, where the first person to enter after a specific, pre-determined time wins. Entering when fewer people are online—like late at night (after 11 pm) or very early in the morning (before 7 am)—can increase your chances.
Last-Minute Push: For voting-based competitions (e.g., “the photo with the most likes wins”), the action hots up in the last 24 hours. This is the time to rally your friends and family for that final push.

The Power of Local

Don’t just focus on the huge, national prize draws. Your best odds are often hiding in plain sight.

Go Local: Competitions run by your local radio station, newspaper, shopping centre, or a small business in your town will have a tiny fraction of the entrants of a national one. The prize might be smaller—a £50 voucher for a local restaurant, for example—but your chance of winning is massive.
Search Smart: Use search terms like “competition [Your Town Name]” or “giveaway [Your County]”. You’ll be amazed at what you find.

The Art of the ‘WOM’ (Word of Mouth) Entry

Some competitions are known as WOM, which stands for Word of Mouth. These usually require a purchase to enter, and you find the entry details on the packaging. Many people don’t bother, which is great news for you.

However, there’s a crucial legal point here. In Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales), if a company offers a way to enter a prize draw that requires a purchase, they must also provide a ‘No Purchase Necessary’ (NPN) route. This means you can enter for free, usually by post. This rule doesn’t apply in Northern Ireland, which has different laws. Always check the T&Cs for the NPN route if you don’t want to buy the product.

Staying Safe and Savvy: How to Spot a Dodgy Contest

Sadly, where there are prizes, there are scammers. You need to keep your wits about you. A fake competition can be after your personal data or, worse, your money.

Red Flags to Watch Out For

Here’s how to spot a scam a mile off:

No T&Cs: Legitimate competitions always have terms and conditions. If there’s no link to them, be very suspicious.
Asking for Too Much Info: An entry form should only ask for the basics: name, email, maybe your address to post the prize. If it’s asking for your bank details or date of birth, run away.
The “Pay for Delivery” Scam: This is the most common one. You’ll get a message saying you’ve won a big prize, like an iPhone, and you just need to click a link and pay a small fee (£1-£2) for postage. This is always a scam. Legitimate promoters never ask winners to pay for anything. They are trying to steal your card details.
Dodgy Social Media Accounts: Look at the brand’s profile. Is it brand new? Does it have very few followers and posts? Scammers often create fake pages that look very similar to real brands. Check for the blue tick on verified accounts.

Who’s in Charge? The UK’s Watchdogs

If you come across a competition that seems unfair or isn’t playing by the rules, you can do something about it. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK’s independent regulator for advertising. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) writes the rules (the CAP Code) that all promoters must follow. If a promoter is being dodgy—not awarding a prize, for example—you can make a complaint to the ASA.

The Winner’s Circle: What Happens When You Actually Win?

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! An email or a social media notification pings, and your heart skips a beat. Here’s what to do next.

The Winning Email: Is it Real?

After the initial excitement, a healthy dose of scepticism is a good thing. Before you reply, double-check that it’s legitimate.

Does it come from a proper company email address (e.g., @brandname.co.uk), not a generic Gmail or Hotmail account?
Does it refer to the specific competition you entered?
Does it sound professional? Bad grammar and spelling are red flags.
Crucially, it should not ask you for payment of any kind.

Claiming Your Prize

Once you’re sure it’s real, it’s time to celebrate! And then, reply promptly. Promoters often give you a deadline to claim your prize (it’ll be in the T&Cs). Provide the details they ask for, usually your address. Then comes the hardest part: waiting for your prize to arrive! This can take up to 28 days, sometimes longer, so be patient.

A Quick Word on Tax

This is a common worry for new compers, but the good news is simple. In the UK, prizes won from competitions, prize draws, and lotteries are generally tax-free. You don’t need to declare them to HMRC. The prize is all yours to enjoy.

Conclusion: Your Winning Journey Awaits

Becoming a successful comper isn’t about finding a magic wand or a secret cheat code. It’s about combining persistence with a smart, organised strategy. It’s about understanding the rules of the game and using them to your advantage.

Let’s boil it down:

Get Organised: A separate email and a password manager are your new best friends.
Know Your Battlefield: Mix high-volume, low-effort entries with high-quality, skill-based ones.
Read the Rules: Always, always scan the T&Cs.
Be Creative: Put some thought into your high-effort entries to make them shine.
Stay Safe: Learn to spot the red flags of a scam.
Have Fun: At the end of the day, comping is a hobby. Enjoy the process, celebrate the small wins, and don’t get discouraged if you don’t win the big one straight away.

Persistence is the most important tool in your kit. You won’t win every competition you enter. You won’t even win most of them. But every entry is a chance, a little bit of ‘what if’. And if you stick with it, one day soon that “Congratulations!” email will land in your inbox. The next big win could be just a click away. Good luck!

Level Up: The Ultimate British Guide to Dominating Online Contests

What is ‘Comping’? A Very British Hobby