Have you ever won anything?

[KG Christopher]

Lovely piece about an Author Helen Garner.

Helen Garner learns of $207,000 literary prize win after checking junk email

I haven't won anything of any worth. When I was young, I won a turkey roasting tray which I turned into.

1. A sled.
2. A hat.
3. An atom proof bunker for my toy soldiers.

What have you won?

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I once won a stainless steel exhaust system for my Mini Clubman Estate. I entered a competition in one of the car magazines, run by a firm called Midas Exhausts. They were looking for a punchy advertising slogan to use, so I penned 'Midas Exhausts as Good as Gold, New Exhausts exchanged for Old'.

To my surprise it won, and they used the slogan for many years afterwards—which was a much cheaper way for them of getting good copy than paying an advertising agency.

Some time later I scrapped the car, which had become unfeasible to repair. I kicked myself as the scrap-yard's lorry towed it away, as the exhaust was still as good as ever, and I could have sold it for more than the Mini itself. D'oh!

 

[Bluma Bezbroda]

I won tickets on a theater premiere few years back. The theater asked (on their Facebook fp) what can be the interpretation of the play's title- "NAD" (in polish, without a proper context, it hardly means anything, its an adverb meaning "over", "above"). The person who would give the most creative suggestion would get a double ticket for the premiere. So, I wrote to them that being a biologist for me the most plausible meaning is Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, a common coenzyme crucial for many cellular processes. And I won!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I won two quizzes in school...just *glory* for my House. The Houses were named for birds of prey and I was in Hawk. We had Kestrel, Falcon Eagle...and Condor. Why Condor? We could have had Harrier, Owl or Kite or. Why did the school go all the way to the Andes for the last bird?

A few small Lottery wins...I don't buy tickets, hub used to in the beginning.

£10 for a poem in The Literary Review wwwwooooooohooooo

And a bag of new books in a writing competition.

And I once won a coconut on a coconut shy, which my mother distrusted as probably not fresh.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I won an essay contest in middle school for my paper on traditions--I wrote about Christmas with my family. I also won a Silver Key (second place) award in high school for my short story/memoir on learning to play the flute. I also won a bunch of scholarships for college.

 

[Emurelda]

At school I won the Cotton prize for maths...i still don't know what that means.

I like entering business competitions that i know i have a good chance of winning..not because I am any good but because not enough enter or it is a new competition..and because of this i believe that the following awards were given to me..

Arts Institute Merit Award £250
Unltd level 1 award £4981
Striding Out Big leap 2007 Winner
Future 100 Social Entrepreneur 2 years running ..( they were new and i guess i filled a spot)
Barking and Dagenham business award for best business (there were at least 9 other categories)


And recently just won a place with the Young Academy programme for a chance of procuring up to £150k.

I realise i risk being seen as a brag..but honestly i have lost many more than i have gained. As you know i didn't get into the Brand Licensing event but with that rejection a lot of positive energy injected and asking "why the heck didn't our brand win!?" Opened a few doors

 

[Emurelda]

I won two quizzes in school...just *glory* for my House. The Houses were named for birds of prey and I was in Hawk. We had Kestrel, Falcon Eagle...and Condor. Why Condor? We could have had Harrier, Owl or Kite or. Why did the school go all the way to the Andes for the last bird?
.

Whatever the reason...Cities of Gold tune is now being hummed and i fear will not be erased anytime soon from my mind.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

A serving of cheesiness....

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I've won a few things over the years...lets see if I can remember...

-When I was little, I won a contest where you had to put Lego pieces together as fast as you could. Got a Lego set for that...
-I came in third place in an essay contest in middle or elementary school...I can't remember which (it had something to do with the importance of women in the workplace or writing. It was a very long time ago, so I can't quite remember. I'll ask my mom...she'll know for sure).
-I randomly won tickets to a concert once. Gave those to my parents...
-A few years ago, I won an iPad at work. That was cool.
-I won the fourth quarter score pool at a Super Bowl party I went to...still need to collect my winnings.

I also won a few pretty nice scholarships for college...

Usually, I maintain that I never win anything, but thinking back for this thread, I guess that isn't really the case. Now I feel special. Thanks @KG Christopher.

 

[KG Christopher]

OK, I dont think winning gold stars counts as winning. Everyone gets them, Its a way of encouraging you. So please, less of the 'I Got a gold star for tidying the toys up'.

So far, I think @Paul Whybrow's Midas Exhaust is winning, followed closely by @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine's coconut.

...Actually, I never got a gold star, I din't go to that forward thinking type of school .

 

[Bluma Bezbroda]

The only award I got in (primary) school, I don't remember for what (couldn't have been for good grades, I was always a lousy student), was a copy of the book Quo Vadis. I HATE QUO VADIS

 

[Alistair Roberts]

I won a record of Petter Tosh, from a radio station once.

 

[KG Christopher]

Wow, thanks @Alistair Roberts I forgot, I entered a quiz on radio and one a copy of the Masstricht Treaty. What Peter Tosh album was it?

 

[Patricia D]

I won second prize in a short story contest and used my $30 winnings to take my husband out for lunch at a sandwich shop

Before that, the only thing I'd ever won was $100 certificate toward a sewing machine priced at $400 and worth $200.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

The only award I got in (primary) school, I don't remember for what (couldn't have been for good grades, I was always a lousy student), was a copy of the book Quo Vadis. I HATE QUO VADIS

'Tis horrid and disgusting. Apart from Nero's emerald monocle.

 

[Carol Rose]

Um... probably. I'd have to think about it. LOL!! Various little awards in grade school, junior high (we now call that "middle school" over here), and high school. I think. Hard to remember that far back most days. I did win an award with a name on it and a $750 scholarship when I graduated from nursing school, for having the highest GPA in the class. As for writing stuff, some of my books have won contests. I've crowed about them on here.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

My favourite winning, for its sheer ridiculousness was that I won a jar of pickled pigs feet once, for being the first of my class to locate the appendix of the fetal pig we were dissecting.

I also won Legacy magazine's Best Article award in 2001 for an article on using insects in heritage interpretation--marginally more prestigious than the pickled pigs feet.

I also won a t-shirt and a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe TV series at a science education conference science trivia contest.

Bunch of scholarships, too, for Uni.

Oh, yeah, and I won Penn State University's Continuing Education award for Creativity and Innovation one year for the International Ecology Camp I ran for the Japanese All Star Little League Team and a couple dozen other international students. (Not that there was really much creativity and innovation involved--just a shitload of work).

 

[Bluma Bezbroda]

@Robinne Weiss so nice to hear from someone who also had their a share portion of animals/organs in formaline

@Katie-Ellen Hazeldine Yes. And the monocle may be the only thing loosely connected with the historical truth in that book. Some historians/chroniclers contemporary to Nero refer to him as poorly sighted.

 

[Patricia D]

Ooops, I thought this was just about tangibles.
My first book, A Perfect Victim, which was e-published, was named 2015's best mystery by the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition.
The next book, Secrets, Lies & Homicide, is a finalist for the 2016 award. The winner will be named soon.
The honors, while appreciated, have had no tangible affect on sales, although there appeared to be a spike in piracy after the 2015 win.

 

[Madeleine Conway]

I love this thread.

Two wins.

1987, placed third in a short story competition run by Elle Magazine. Got £25 and a place in an anthology called Murder & Company. Was invited to publication party. Forgot about it. Then in 2008, a friend came up to me in the staff room and said, was your maiden name Kalim? Yes, I said, and it turned out that a radio production company had picked up the story, broadcast is and were looking for me to pay royalties. They had placed a notice in the small ads of Private Eye, Spectator and New Statesman, and they found me, and even better paid me £450.

Other than that, in 1994, I won a magnum of Dragon Boat Rosé, an early and pretty horrible example of Chinese winemaking, with an accompanying corkscrew.

 

[KG Christopher]

My favourite winning, for its sheer ridiculousness was that I won a jar of pickled pigs feet once, for being the first of my class to locate the appendix of the fetal pig we were dissecting.

I also won Legacy magazine's Best Article award in 2001 for an article on using insects in heritage interpretation--marginally more prestigious than the pickled pigs feet.

I also won a t-shirt and a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe TV series at a science education conference science trivia contest.

Bunch of scholarships, too, for Uni.

Oh, yeah, and I won Penn State University's Continuing Education award for Creativity and Innovation one year for the International Ecology Camp I ran for the Japanese All Star Little League Team and a couple dozen other international students. (Not that there was really much creativity and innovation involved--just a shitload of work).

OK, pickled pigs feet????

When I was 21, I went to Carnival in Trinidad to party for 2 weeks, was great, loads of parties (Fetes as they say) and one evening, I went along with my family, I was quite sloshed and was handed a styrofoam cup with a pickeled trotter in it, it was dark and lots of music, I thought someone had given me a drink, I put it to my mouth and tasted salty pickled pigs trotter.

'Yuk' I screamed and threw it on the ground.

My host came up to me and said 'I am so sorry, we did not mean to offend your faith' and I said

'I thought it was a rum and coke on the rocks'.

 

[Sea-shore]

Well, if we're counting school certificates, I have a stack in the loft somewhere - I was a nerd and teachers loved me. As for anything meaningful or of monetary value: nope. *sigh*

 

[Katie-Ellen]

OK, I dont think winning gold stars counts as winning. Everyone gets them, Its a way of encouraging you. So please, less of the 'I Got a gold star for tidying the toys up'.

So far, I think @Paul Whybrow's Midas Exhaust is winning, followed closely by @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine's coconut.

...Actually, I never got a gold star, I din't go to that forward thinking type of school .

Gold stars for tidying up the toys. It is a bit patronising, really, innit, the too easy reward.

This is the gold star no school gave, ever. (?)

 

[KG Christopher]

Gold stars for tidying up the toys. It is a bit patronising, really, innit, the too easy reward.

This is the gold star no school gave, ever. (?)

View attachment 1125

Motivation in my strict / catholic / boys school was pretty much like this.... We have an un-oficial score card, I got upto 8 strikes on the bum.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Ahhhh

I got hit on the hand in Infant's school for being a chatterbox. I later get one smack on the behind at 13, for the same. That shouldn't have happened.