Canadian Contests - Daily Entry

Answers to frequently asked questions about contesting in Canada.
Last Updated by Vangie Beal, November 03, 2007

WHAT IS THIS BLOG ABOUT?
This contesting blog only lists DAILY ENTRY contests and only lists contests for Canadian residents. It basically is an ongoing list of all the daily entry contests I personally bookmark and enter each day myself. The majority of the contests I list are contests that are sponsored by well-known brands and companies, meaning they are legitimate contests with guaranteed prize awarding. I also will only list contests offering larger value prizes. I don’t usually link to contests where you win small prizes such as DVDs, CDs, and so on (however I may compile a few of those in a single post every so often). Each blog post will provide the basic contest eligibility and prize details, but always read the rules and regulations yourself on the contest page before entering (especially if the prize is a trip so you know exactly what is included). If you are new to contesting be sure to check out my top 5 contesting tips to help get in the contest groove!

In this example 2x (30+10)+20 = you do the brackets first (30+10) =40, then do multiplication 2×40=80, then the addition 80+20 to get the correct answer of 100.

WHAT IS A NO PURCHASE NECESSARY (NPN) ENTRY?
The Canadian law that requires the STQ also prohibits “requiring consideration for playing the games”. So basically, a contest sponsor cannot require a purchase for entry. A national brand who inserts special contest PIN codes and advertise “get a pin to enter on specially marked packages”, must also offer a free method of entry, which is called a “No Purchase Necessary” (NPN) method of entry. Some examples of NPN entries include writing an essay and mailing the entry to the company or providing a reasonable hand-drawn facsimile of the product UPC code. Canadian contests online may also provide a way for you to obtain the required UPC or get a pin directly on the contest page. Not all contests require this when filling out the contest form — but some might require a PIN, UPC, and similar. If you do not have this, then read the official contest rules for how to obtain an entry through the NPN method.

AOM (18): Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, or Prince Edward Island.
AOM (19): British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Yukon, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Northwest Territories.

As a word of caution you need to read the rules carefully. Some contests require entrants to have reached AOM on the date they enter the contest, while others may state you must be AOM by the starting date of the contest. In the second case, for a daily entry contest spanning 6 months, if you didn’t reach AOM by the official contest start date (e.g. your birthday was a week after the contest started) you are unable to enter the contest at all.

WHAT ARE IMAGE VERIFICATIONS FOR?
By proper name, these image verification on Web forms are called a turning number (read the definition here on Webopedia.com) and are appearing more frequently on Internet contest pages. These randomly generated images will display numbers or characters that you must enter correctly into the form field in order to submit a contest form. If you do not enter the characters or enter them incorrectly, your form submission is not accepted. These image verifications are used on contest pages to ensure the entry is being made by a real human, and not by script, robot or any other means of automated contest entry. Most automated entry programs will not be able to ready and copy the characters in the image verification box. Here are a couple examples of a turning number (or image verification):
 

WHY DO SO MANY CONTESTS SAY “VOID IN QUEBEC”?
For contests, the Quebec government has many rules and regulations which are not applicable in all other Canadian provinces and territories. For example, in order to include Quebec residents in contests, the organization must register the contest in advance with the Quebec government, pay a fee of the total contest prize value, and many other regulations. To avoid the extra work, financial obligations, and also avoid any legal action by the Quebec government, many companies will simply exclude Quebec in its eligibility requirement clause in the contest rules.