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Glossary
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New to comping, or perhaps new to the net? Below is a collection of terms that are frequently used online and specifically in the comping world. If you like, you can help other users by adding any terms that you know might be unfamiliar to newcomers. You do have to be registered to add terms to the Glossary.
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| Term | Definition |
| AIOE | "All in one envelope". You can sometimes send multiple entries to one address in just one envelope, This is common for magazine comps and can make comping more cost effective. |
| CD | "Closing Date". This refers to the date by which an Entry Form must arrive at its destination i.e the address on the entry form (or in the in-store box). |
| Chestnut | A tiebreaker that has been used and reworked for many years, they are often still used as winning slogans even though originality is asked for. |
| Comper | Casually used to describe someone who is fond of taking part in prize competitions. |
| Comping | This term refers to entering competitions as a hobby. |
| EF | "Entry Form". The official form required to enter a competition, photocopies are not normally allowed. Sometimes the writing space can be very limited so make sure you get spares for practice! |
| FPD | "Free Prize Draw". A competition where no qualifier is required and usually very little effort. At their simplest, you just need to supply your name and details (address, telephone number, etc) on a postcard or an entry form. Others, may require that you to complete a simple survey-style questionnaire. The winner is usually picked by drawing the winning entry out of a hat. |
| LWE | "Long White Envelope". This is the usual format used to give notification of a prize. |
| N&A | An abbreviation of "Name and Address". Most postal and telephone competition entries will ask you to provide these details. |
| NPN | An abbreviation of "No Purchase Neccessary". In no skill competitions, there must be an equal opportunity for those who have not purchased the product. Therefore you will see a 'No Purchase Necessary' route. This means you can enter by sending a plain paper entry or a postcard with your name and contact details.
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| OEF | "Official Entry Form". See entry form (EF). |
| OOM | "Order of Merit". This a type of competition where items/features have to be placed into an order usually pre-determined by the judges. e.g. ordering a number of design and safety features of a car. |
| PC | "Postcard". These are often required for free prize draws, you just place your name and address on the left hand side and the competition address on the right. In order to avoid the postcard being returned to you, we recommend you put your name and address at an angle to the competition address. To make your postcard stand out you could use coloured or picture postcards. |
| PD | "Prize Draw". See free prize draw (FPD). In the UK, a prize draw does not involve any skill or judgment to enter, and should not discriminate any member of the public from entering. If the prize draw states that you have to purchase an item to enter, there should always be an address to write to, to enter for free. (see “NPN”). |
| PH | "Phone In Competitions". This is where you will need to telephone the competition phone number to enter the competition. Take care to check the cost of the phone call, it is often very high as this is how they raise the cash for the competition prize and make a large profit. |
| POP | "Proof of Purchase". This could be a label, a bar code, a ring pull, or most likely a till receipt. Make sure you circle you purchase you purchase on the till receipt and do not attach it to your entry form unless specifically asked to do so. Most competitions will not accept photocopies of till receipts so if you require qualifiers for various items in one shop, ask for separate till receipts. |
| PP | "Plain Paper". These are often used for free prize draws. PP means a piece of plain paper with your name and address clearly printed on it and sent to the competition address. You will save yourself time by word-processing your self a batch of these. With respect to size, it is sometimes specified, if not make sure it is a good size, an A4 piece of paper cut into four makes ideal size plain paper entries. |
| Qualifier | Used to describe a purchase that you need to make in order to enter the competition, which should be included in your entry (e.g. receipt as proof of purchase, tokens from packaging, etc). |
| SAE | "Stamped (Self) Addressed Envelope". You will often be asked to provide one of these if you want to know the winning entries. Write your name and address on the envelope, stick a stamp on it and include it in your envelope to the competition house. |
| STB | "Spot The Ball". In this type of competition you are shown a football photo (or a photo of another ball-based sport like hockey, tennis, etc). The ball is eliminated from the photo and you are asked to determine where the centre of the ball should be. Your answer is compared to the one provided by a judge or panel of judges and the closest one wins the competition. |
| STD | "Spot The Difference". Note, this does NOT refer to any form of disease! This is where you have to find the differences between two or more pictures or drawings. You will usually have to 'circle the differences' on a specified picture but follow the instructions carefully. |
| T&C | "Terms and Conditions". Usually presented in small print at the bottom of entry forms. These tell you who is eligible to enter the competition, the number of entries you can make, age restrictions, closing date, the notification of the results date, and specific details of the prizes. You must read these very carefully or you could be disqualified. |
| TB | "Tiebreaker". A slogan often required which will determine the winners of a competition. It generally involves the phrase "complete the following sentence in an apt and original manner". You are usually asked to do this in a set number of words or less. Always respect these instructions and be careful when it comes to hyphenated words and apostrophies, our advice is don't take any chances. |
| TXT | "Text Competitions". This is where you will need to text in your answer and or details to the competition. Like phone-in competitions, check the cost and details of your phone contract as you could be running up a big bill. |
| WEM | "Winning Email". This is when you are notified of a competition prize via email. Internet competitions generally work in this way. You will probably have to reply to the email to give your address for the prize. |
| WTC | "Winning Telephone Call". This is when you are notified of a competition win via telephone. With so many telesales these days you need to make sure of the authenticity of the call. Many unscrupulous companies try to woo you into making a purchase or making an expensive phone call by guaranteeing a prize, these are usually clever scams. On the other hand don’t be too quick to put down the phone, it may not be another double glazing salesman, but that phone call telling you that you have won a cruise! |
| WWW or W3 | "Online Competitions". These are Internet competitions, and there are loads of them around. They are usually run in order to get you email address, so be ready for the potential junk email you will receive after entering. On the other hand they are easy to enter and do seem to provide a good success rate. |