community engagement through contests

Engagement throughcontests

Why do contests?

Contests are fun. The audience loves to see something they did in print.

Contests drive traffic.

They encourage the readers to interact with the newspaper, showing readers that we are here and a part of this community.

They drive new readers and build our audience.

Jessica Benes, Reporter-Herald 2013

What kind of contest? Contests associated with holidays (Christmas, Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Halloween).

Events (festivals, parades, trivia bowl).

Weather (snow, first day of summer).

Biggest fan or school spirit.

Best community stories (Ghost stories, Veteran’s stories).


What types of platforms/social media? Videos Photos Written stories Google forms Print newspaper Facebook Twitter Blogs Pinterest Instagram Storify Timelines


How do we handle prizes? Arrange prizes with a participating event or venue (free tickets or passes to an event). Use the tantalizing idea of the best photo making it into print. Post the photos in a Facebook album, on Pinterest and in a slide show on your website as the prize. Occasionally dip into the budget for a gift card (but that depends on the newspaper and budget).


Valentine’s Day Project Call-out for “Loveland’s greatest love stories” online and in print, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.

13 submissions received.

Timeline of submissions designed.

Top five chosen by Reporter-Herald staff.

Reporter-Herald projects:


Valentine’s Day cont’d:Reporter-Herald projects:


Top five put to a vote by the community for one week. First place entry interviewed for a Valentine’s Day feature story.

Easter We asked for egg decorating “egg-sperts” to be part of a feature. We used how-to videos of those submissions to ask the community to submit their best-decorated eggs for a Facebook album, slide show, and to run in our News: By You section.



Photo curation Quick hitters like curating for photos seems to often perform better than longer contest projects. We usually ask for photos and place them in a Facebook album and slide show on our website. We have a vote for the best shots and print the top couple in our News: By You section of the paper.

Halloween Snow photos Easter eggs



Our thoughts on what has worked: Our community likes to participate when they don’t have to put in a lot of work.

Submitting photos. Participating in polls.

Big prizes are noticed, as are the promises of a child’s photo getting in the paper. Contests around big events/topics of the day like snow storms or summer festivals.


And what hasn’t: Trivia Bowl: Asked readers to call in with answers to eight trivia questions for the chance to win a free entry to participate in the Trivia Bowl. – No calls.

Might have been too small of an audience. Too much work, not a big enough topic.

Lifetree Film Fest: Asked to submit 3-minute films for a mini film festival in conjunction with Group Publishing Lifetree Film Fest. We received three entries.

Perhaps not enough time (we gave them 2.5 weeks). Not a big enough topic.

Tips from other newspapers: Peeps dioramas are a big hit. Reader’s Choice: Unlimited voting or not? You might end up putting something in the paper that isn’t great but had a lot of friends. Sex sells. We didn't get a tons of entries in our tax season Sexy Accountant contest, but tens of thousands clicked to see what sexy accountants look like. During National Poetry Month a few years ago, we sponsored a limerick contest; we got lots of entries, but most were badly rhymed couplets that weren't even limericks.

-- Richard Chin, St. Paul Pioneer Press.


Tips from other newspapers: Better response when we offer less of readers and offer bigger prizes. Giveaways do well like commenting on a post with a favorite beer or wine to win passes to related events. Built up buzz about “Restaurant week,” where people could “like” the event on Facebook to enter to win. A $400 prize was announced during a “happy hour event” to kick off the week (advertise-driven).

-- April Trotter, York Daily Record, Pennsylvania.


Brainstorm What has worked for you?

What are your ideas?


Jessica Benes Reporter-Herald, 970-669-5050 ext. 530.

Email: [email protected].

Twitter: @JessicaBenes

Facebook, Pinterest: Jessica Benes

Blog: jessicabenes.com

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