I forgot about one of the very first things I learned when I began entering contests. Google Alerts! That way you won't miss a winning notification and it's simple to do. Just search Google Alerts and find the site. Then enter what you want it to alert you on. For instance, if your name is John Jacob Jingle + winner, you'd want to enter that in the alert search terms. You might even put your state name in there too. So this would look like John Jacob Jingle + Texas + winner in the search section. Just think what info you would find on a sponsors website when they are listing winners of their contests. You could also put John Jacob J. + winner because many sponsors won't post last names for your privacy.
Then you have a few drop-down selections. This is what I have in mine: For type, I have everything. For how often I chose once a day. Your other choice is once a week, but keep in mind that many contests have a short period of time as to when you should respond and you don't want to miss out because you didn't get the notification. For volume I have only the best results. I use my Google Alerts for other notifications and I would get too many if I chose all results. Then just tell them your email address that you want your notifications delivered to. Then all you need to do is submit.
After submitting, you'll be taken to your list of Google Alerts. Here you can change alerts or even delete them. I tweak mine all of the time. Keep in mind that this service is free. If you type the wrong thing in the search engine, you might accidentally get one that you have to pay for. There is no need to pay when you can get it free. Google Alerts has been so helpful as I go about my hobby of entering contests and I'm sure you'll find it helpful too.
