My very first win - a family pass to Calaway Park, a six pack of Coca-Cola, $100 gift card to Coles bookstore, and a Cabbage Patch Kid... the excitement... ugh.

My very first win - a family pass to Calaway Park, a six pack of Coca-Cola, $100 gift card to Coles bookstore, and a Cabbage Patch Kid... the excitement... ugh.

I have always been playing and winning contests my whole life. Although ever since I won the Harley Davidson moustache contest from VICE Canada in 2013, I've been addicted to entering them. I usually spend about an hour every Sunday entering from my bookmarked list of radio stations, television news stations, blog contests, corporate contests, etc. I am pretty picky about which contests I enter too. I specifically stay away from the ones that require you to follow them on Facebook or Twitter, that's usually a red flag. I'm also not a fan of the 'subscribe to our newsletter' or if they say you get additional entries if you recruit other people by entering their email addresses. Shady! I also don't enter the ones that say you can come back tomorrow and enter again, the odds of those are just ridiculous. I stick to mostly local and legit contests. Sometimes I even enter my wife or family too. I always tell them if you win a contest you didn't enter, it was me - just accept the prize.

I am not lucky, this is Lucky.

I am not lucky, this is Lucky.

I do win a lot. People always say "you sure are lucky!" Funny thing is, I don't believe in luck. Lucky is the name of my cat. I don't win contests because there is some magic or karma (I don't believe in karma either) floating around like some Disney movie while the person picks my name via mystical force. I win because I enter. Simple. One of my favourite quotes is Luck is the residue of design. So true. You can only win if you're in it. I won the Ford Mustang because that was pure skill; outwit and outlast. I usually only enter contests where I know the odds are in my favor or skill is involved. Things like a photo contest, joke contest, live in a car, etc. Local contests are best because they are not high numbers like national contests. I NEVER play the lotto. Your chances of winning are extremely slim. It's roughly 1 in 14 million for Lotto 6/49 and 1 in 28.6 million for Lotto Max. You're just throwing your money away. I call that idiot tax. 

2015 I feel I won the most. It was no life changing Harley Davidson motorcycle like in 2013, or no $23,000 Ford Mustang Convertible like in 2014, but I did acquire quite the lot. I entered many contests this year but I also didn't win just as many as I entered. I think the worst of this year that I didn't win was the Calgary Hospital and Home Lottery. I have never entered these type of lottos because the odds are terrible and I usually only enter the contests I know I can win, but with my track record the last few years, the next big win has got to be a house.

I won $250 (it says $200 but they gave me $250) for this joke on Father's Day. Fitting since I just became a father this year.

I won $250 (it says $200 but they gave me $250) for this joke on Father's Day. Fitting since I just became a father this year.

I decided to check out the website. It was $100 a ticket!? "What a rip-off!" I said. I then perused the prizes and was impressed. I fell in love with the big win; the showhome. I decided to buy one. When I clicked checkout, a pop-up appeared and said BUY 5 TICKETS FOR $650. "WOW! That's a deal and a half!" I said. So I bought $650 worth of lottery tickets and IMMEDIATELY regretted my decision. No refunds either... ugh. After the 3100 prizes awarded, the 50/50 draw, and the $5000 giveaway everyday throughout the month of December, I didn't win a god damn thing. Not even a little Bluetooth speaker. Painful.

The other contest I didn't win was Telus Storyhive. I'm sure many of you remember me cyberspamming you for votes throughout October and November. Telus was giving away 30 $10,000 video production grants to fund digital short films. 15 in British Columbia and 15 in Alberta. My brother, my friend Marc, and myself pitched an idea to get just one of those 15 $10,000 grants in Alberta. You then had to get people to vote on your project. I thought I'd kill it. I'm the king of online voting contests, that's how I won the Harley. But unfortunately we did not. It was strange because the voting wasn't even necessary. Most of the 30 submissions that did make the cut were never contenders in the top trending category throughout the voting stage. I guess the voting was just to hype Storyhive and bring awareness to the projects. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Our Telus Storyhive pitch.

I still feel I killed it this year with wins. If I can't attend the event or don't want the prize, I always give it away. I NEVER charge for it. I feel that would be unfair to profit from something I got for free. So if you ever see me giving away stuff on my Facebook... grab it up!

The following list is my 2015 wins. All tickets I won are two tickets unless otherwise stated and if there is a link, click it to see the associated picture:

Not bad eh? 30 in total. Over two a month! 
The following list is the movie premiere screenings I won as well. All movies are two tickets unless otherwise stated:

January:

  • Inherent Vice

  • The Wedding Ringer

  • Blackhat

  • American Sniper

  • Mordecai (x6 tickets)

  • A Most Violent Year

February:

March:

April:

  • True Story

  • While We're Young

  • Ex Machina

May:

  • Mad Max: Fury Road

  • Spy

  • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (x8 tickets)

  • San Andreas

June:

  • Entourage (x4 tickets)

  • Love and Mercy (x4 tickets)

  • Insidious: Chapter 3 (x8 tickets)

  • Magic Mike XXL (x4 tickets)

  • Max

  • Ted 2

  • Terminator Genesys

July:

  • Big Game

  • The Gallows

  • Trainwreck

  • Amy (x4 tickets)

  • Southpaw

  • Shaun the Sheep (x4 tickets)

  • Vacation (x4 tickets)

  • Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

August:

September:

  • The Intern (x4 tickets)

  • Black Mass

  • Pawn Sacrifice (x4 tickets)

October:

  • Sicario

  • Goosebumps

  • Pan (x4 tickets)

  • Hyena Road

  • Steve Jobs

  • Rock The Kasbah (x6 tickets)

  • Jem

November:

  • Our Brand in Crisis (x4 tickets)

  • The Night Before

December:

  • Legend (x4 tickets)

  • Sisters

  • In the Heart of the Sea (x4 tickets)

  • Daddy's Home

  • The Big Short

The total movie premiere screenings I won was 60. That works out to an average of five a month. So a movie for free, every week in 2015. The only movie I paid for in 2015 was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The last time I paid for a movie before that... I couldn't tell you.

I am going harder and stronger in 2016 and my goal is to double this list this year.
Have a very happy new year everyone!

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