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Easy Ways to Make 2026 Your Best Year Yet for Winning Prizes

 Ways to Make 2026 Your Best Year of Winning Prizes

At the beginning of each year we tend to set some new goals for ourselves and things we want to achieve. For contest lovers a new year is a perfect time to amp up your winning goals! Remember here is Canada we don't pay taxes on prizes like the United States does, making it the best hobby ever!! Doing a few tweaks to your contest entering habits can really increase your chances of winning prizes in 2026. These few simple things can really give you the push you need.

Win-More-Prizes-in-2026



1. Make a Brand New Email

If you have been entering contests for quite awhile using the same email address now is the perfect time to make a new one! Having a dedicated email for only contest entering is a must. Having one email you use helps you avoid missing winning email notifications and prize claim forms. But if you have been using the same one for awhile, making a new one can really help you out. Come up with a short but catchy email address and start using it to enter contests in 2026. Keeping your email safe is very important too. You can check if your email has been hacked to keep yourself safe.  

Contest emails often have expiry dates, and that's when finding an old winner email can be disheartening! I along with many contest lovers have found out that we won a prize way too late to claim it and it sucks! There is a way for you to make sure you are not missing any winner emails by doing simple searches for winner notifications in all your email folders like spam and other. At the top of any of your email accounts will be a search bar to search within your emails.  Use that bar to enter the search terms below.

Winner Email Search Terms 

  • Congratulations and search congrats 
  • You Won!
  • Winner
  • Prize Claim
  • Prize winner
  • Claim form
  • Contest entry
  • You've been selected
  • Your entry
  • Contest entry

2. Stop Tracking Prizes & Prizes that Don't Arrive

The biggest waste of time is worrying about tracking prizes and getting upset about a prize that hasn't arrived. Being angry or upset about a prize that hasn't arrived puts you in a negative mindset and then your winning streak goes away. There are always going to be 1 of 2 prizes that just don't make it to you. Oh well! Make a mental note about the page you entered on and just don't enter their contests or giveaways again. 

Your time is better spent on entering more contests than it is in tracking prizes. Put your energy into winning more and focus on that. 

I personally used to track all my prize wins but in 2024 I stopped and the my winnings were so much better when I focused on entering instead of tracking. 



3. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

If you only enter one type of contest like a website based ones, or social media based ones you are limiting yourself. 2026 is the year to get out of your comfort zone and enter giveaways and contest you previously didn't bother looking at. 

Receipt contests have always been a top favorite of mine and I have won so many amazing prizes entering them. If you have entered them before this receipt contest guide will get you started super fast.

Social media giveaways aren't as hard as you think to enter so make accounts on numerous ones even if you only use it to enter giveaways. 

Contests that allow you to enter every day are referred to as  daily entry contests in the contest world. Getting an entry in every single day of the contest can really increase your chances of winning a prize. When a contest offers more than one prize its worth entering every single day to win 1 of the prizes. 

I add all my daily entry contests into Google Tasks and then with my morning coffee I open it up and get all my daily entries in for that day. It takes only a few minutes each morning and is worth the effort.   
A little effort can go a very long way when entering contests online. 

5. Have a Realistic Prize Bucket List

 If you are hoping to boost your chances of winning prizes, there are lots of things you can do. Having a prize bucket list is one of those things. Think of it this way....If you really want to win one of the prizes a contest or giveaway is offering, you are more likely to come back daily for you extra entries, check back on the giveaway at its close date, follow up and see a winners list. To start your bucket list be realistic. Pick 10 things that you really want but just can't afford right now. choose things that will make your life a little easier day to day. 

Write your 10 things you want to win down, either in your cell or on a piece of paper you see daily. I personally use post it notes and have all the things I want to win posted everywhere. (Giggle) 
Make sure to look at your list every single day. Think about those 10 things you really want to win at least once a day. 

Now it's time to search for your bucket list items being given away. Here is how to search Google the right way to find the prizes you want to win. 

Contest-Entering-Tips

Wishing You Good Luck!