Winning prizes has never been so much fun!

Jose Allison from Dunstable puts all her enthusiasm into comping and has won some fantastic prizes.

The things we do when we love comping! Sometimes you want to go that extra mile for your hobby; in fact it can give you a real sense of achievement. Have you ever caught yourself running around all of your nearest supermarkets looking for a specific entry form? Secretly scribbling down entry details in the corner of a shop? Keeping the radio on all day to catch the song that will win you a cash prize, or dressing up in silly costumes to take a picture of yourself as a comp entry?  I have to admit, I have!

Just like most things in life, if you put in plenty of energy, you will get lots out. And it can be great fun! Josie Allison is proof of this!

 

I met Jose at the North Yorkshire comp day in Pudsey last month, with her partner, John and liked her immediately. Full of beans for life - and for comping – you can see why she wins fabulous prizes, because she puts so much enthusiasm and energy into comping and has so much fun.

Tracey won a fabulous family holiday in Florida, by entering a 10-word slogan competition with Kodak. The prize included a week in the Animal Kingdom hotel and passes to Disney Land for two adults and two children. Jose wanted to take her daughter Caroline and Caroline’s boyfriend (both 20 years old at the time) and the promoters agreed – they changed the passes and organised everything- they were brilliant.

 

Not one to miss out on the opportunity to enter more comps- and have more fun, primary school teacher Jose, got creative and packed her suitcase full of costumes for the family to dress up in while they were away to win more prizes. Do you remember the Lion King competition to take a photograph of yourself dressed as Lion King character? Well Disney Land seemed the perfect place for Jose to get try to win this prize – so the extra clothes, hairdryer and toiletries were replaced with carefully packed Lion King costumes! She even had husband, John dressed up for the part.

 

 

Unfortunately she didn’t win the comp this time, but had great fun trying!

 

“Imagine if we’d been stopped at customs, says daughter Caroline – they’d think we were bonkers!” Also inside the suitcase was a bottle of tomato sauce, a prop for another competition with Heinz. Jose posed with the sauce near the Mikey Mouse Sorcerer from Fantasia, and completed the photo with the caption playing on the words ‘saucer-er’!

 

Jose really loves is looking out for the more challenging competitions, where you have to do something a bit different I order to enter!

 

And it pays off. Her biggest prizes to date have been the trip to Florida, a romantic weekend in Rome, a trip to Greece, a super market trolley dash, a trip to the Ice hotel in Iceland and VIP tickets to the Perrier comedy awards in Edinburgh! The list goes on!

 

Jose has been entering comps since she was 16 – inspired by her aunty winning a dishwasher (which in 1966 was a pretty amazing prize!) Within three months of entering comps she got her first win – a watch – and from then on she was hooked!
She enters up to 30 comps a week, and averages at about 1.6 prizes a week (not that she’s done the maths at all!!).

 

It goes to show that when you put in the enthusiasm, and have fun comping, the prizes can come back 10-fold!