Contests

All right – it’s been a busy morning here at Ilium Software HQ. We’ve had a lot of news headlines to read through. All of them were really great, and, just as we suspected, many of them were weird and confusing. Some of them, however, actually sounded believable, didn’t they?

But, as with any contest, many will enter and few will win. However, we were only able to narrow it down to seven lucky people, because there were just too many good comments. So here it comes – one BIG winner and six great runner-ups:

The first prize of a $121 Amazon gift card, plus a complete package of our software and swag, goes to: Warthog for the headline “Steve Jobs was ARRESTED yesterday, shortly after he WIGGLED. Early reports suggest he was trying to DANCE.” I can almost see the photo that would run next to that headline, can’t you?

The runners-up, who each receive a complete package of our software as well as some cool swag, are: Dave Beauvais, Jeremie Lariviere, Matthew Miller, bamhm182, Singh and DougP.

To all the winners – I’ll be sending out an email to each of you with details on how to get your prizes, so keep an eye on your Inbox and Spam folders too!

Thanks to everyone for taking part in the contest – there were a lot of clever responses. We’ve got a new contest running right now, so keep your creative thinking caps on and try your luck again!

Fill in the blanks to win a prize! Today’s contest is a fun-filled game of MadLibs.

If you don’t know what MadLibs are: where the heck have you been hiding? Okay, seriously, if you need a refresher or want some more details, read a quick explanation of MadLibs here.

Julie has “doctored” a NewsBreak page with fake headlines. To get the full MadLib-ian effect of this contest, we recommend that you first find a partner: grab a friend, a co-worker, or just tap the guy’s shoulder next to you on the train. All you need to do is ask your friend for the words in blue – don’t read them the full headlines! Write down their answers, and when you’re finished, read them aloud – you should get some pretty silly results!

Fill in as many of the headlines as you like, and send us your entries as replies to this post. You’ll need to type the entire headline into the comments, not just your answers to the words in blue – otherwise it’s going to make even less sense. We’ll do the judging and announce the winners tomorrow.

This is the first contest in our week-long 11 year anniversary celebration. We’ll be giving away one first prize of a $121 Amazon gift certificate for the best and funniest entry. Plus, we’ll have runner-up prizes of a complete package of our software and swag to many others. Enter as many times as you like, by sending your entries as a replies to this post. Employees and friends of Ilium Software aren’t eligible to win the prizes, but are welcome (and encouraged) to participate anyway. Today’s contest closes at 9:00 a.m. eastern time tomorrow morning.

Good luck!

May is here, and it’s time to pick another winner out of our Blog Contest Hat. Well, there really is no hat, but I think I might start referring to it as the Contest Hat, because that sounds fun and exciting, and I really like this new graphic I found.

For April, the lucky winner is Chris Baggott, for commenting on the post eWallet for Apple Newton. Congratulations! I just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.

Honestly, I don’t know why everyone seemed to think that post was so funny – I mean, we were going to put eWallet out for the Newton, but we got such an unexpected response from our commenters that we just decided to pull the plug…. What? Oh, April Fool’s Day jokes don’t work in May? You don’t believe me? Oh, okay, moving along – to everyone else out there, keep the comments coming, we love to hear what you think. And next month, the winner could be you!

It was not some strange or intentional April Fools’ trick that our monthly blog contest went unannounced yesterday. I was out at a conference, learning lots of great stuff. Incidentally, it was all about you – the user, the reader, the site visitor. But one thing I know, without needing to be taught, is that if there’s a winner to be chosen, you just want me to get right down to it and tell you who it is. So, here we go:

For March, the lucky comment came from Sumo, on the post Thanks for Asking. Congratulations! I just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.

To everyone else, don’t go away! Keep visiting and leaving those comments, because I’ll be picking another winner in May. Somebody’s got to win, and wouldn’t it be great if it was you?

March is here – does that mean spring is around the corner where you live? Not for us, unfortunately, where it isn’t surprising to have random snow showers even into April in Michigan. Oh well – so March might not necessarily mean spring is on its way, but the good news is a brand-new month means free software for one lucky person!

We had some really good discussion this past month, particularly on the post Sneak Peek at eWallet 6.1, which started back in January but just kept right on going through last month. And that post is where we found our latest winner: Sharon – congratulations! I just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.

To all of our other readers – thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts – keep coming back, because next month the winner could be you!

Is anyone else surprised that it’s already February, or is it just me? Either way, you should all be happy to know that, since it’s February 1st, I’m ready to announce the latest contest winner!

We had a lot of great comments in January, and the lucky winner this time around is: Gary, for his comment on Dusting Off the Crystal Ball. Congratulations! I just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.

To everyone else, be sure to stick around and keep the comments and opinions coming – and maybe next month you’ll be the winner!