Winning A Contest takes a Village

I love to enter contests. There was a period in time when I was winning something all the time. One week I even won 3 different contests. But for the past few years I haven’t won anything. In the old days though it was all mail-in now I do everything online.

Now usually the contests are those such as The Travel Channel contest or HGTV, just fill in the blanks and click, off it goes. Well 2 weeks ago I entered a photo contest online thru the Santa Fe School of Cooking on facebook. Now it really wasn’t about the fancy photo but rather how many votes one received. Of course it was great for the School as they gathered lots more people for interest in their stuff, which is good stuff by the way. But because the winner was dependant on votes it became a little more than a photo contest.

But no matter what the contest was or wasn’t, the prize was a cooking class for 2 and since we want to attend 3 classes this was a great opportunity. The top 3 vote getters were the winners.

I made a pot of Calabasa and took several photos with different light then entered my photo after dinner. There were 2 entries already, one with 3 or 4 votes. Unfortunately, I play to win, I HATE losing. I sent out a message and link to all of my facebook friends but no response. I voted for myself on my mom’s account (she couldn’t figure it out), voted on my husband’s account, and then started asking a little more seriously.

The contest was closing on Saturday night and I’d gotten about 10 votes, unfortunately, several didn’t go thru, but another person’s count went up to 12. I wanted to be at the top! I asked my daughter-in-law, Jen, if she’d voted, and she said yes. But when I told her I was only about 3 away from being 1^st she got on the stick. Friends and relatives started talking on facebook, keeping tabs as the votes came in. My facebook messages were flying and texts coming in for a couple of hours.

I’m happy to announce that I did come in 1^st. But what was so fun is that so many people were cheering me on, trying to find another vote. It really took a little village.

And what was really great is that in the end there were 6 photos, some with only 1 vote. Santa Fe School of Cooking was gracious enough to give all participants a prize.

Now to get to Santa Fe and learn some pointers on New Mexican cooking!