UPICKEM Promotion Center | Share. Brainstorm. Profit.

We recently hosted one of our partner’s favorite webinars (okay, it’s one of our favorites, too) – 30 Contest Ideas in 30 Minutes. During this webinar, Julie Foley, our Director of Affiliate Success & Matt Coen, our President, reveals the top 30 contest categories run on UPICKEM in the past year. Each category comes complete with several examples for you to get your contest-building creative juices flowing to help build out your year-long contest calendar.

If you weren’t able to attend the live session, watch a recording in our resource center.

Be sure to check out all the contests mentioned in our webinar.

With the approach of the March college basketball playoff brackets, we are seeing creative and original brackets pop up on our UPICKEM affiliates’ sites. For example, check out this bracket contest from St. Louis Post-Dispatch – the paper pits all things St. Louis against each other to discover its readers’ favorite places, food, things & people from the city. Life Sherpa Joe Holleman wrote a column about the contest and even revealed his picks. As a gateway city resident, I am a bit partial to this contest – I’m rooting for the Zoo! (I also love the toasted ravioli arch!)

Gather round team, we’ve got a heck of a contest to tell you about. For their sweepstakes “Swing Into Spring“, The Day (New London, CT) teamed up with minor league baseball team Connecticut Tigers and Klingerman Travel, Inc. to offer 3 incredible prizes any baseball buff would be ecstatic to win. Grand prize is an all expense paid trip for 4 to spring training – whoo hoo! Not only does this contest have ideal sponsors and scream-worthy prizes, The Day hit a promotional homerun by using their masthead to advertise the contest. See below.

With the close of baseball season just around the corner, players and fans alike are wrought with worry over upcoming tradings and negotiations. Well, put those worries in your back pocket – All Around Philly (Philadelphia, PA) is here to keep Phillies favorite right fielder Jason Werth for another season with this genius (yes, genius) petition/tribute platform. Werth admirers visit this contest to voice their pleas to keep the star player on the Phillies, read articles from sports writers and browse snapshots from Werth’s blazing career. Genius.

The Daily Item (Sunbury, PA) pairs up with Williamsport Crosscutters – a local minor league baseball team – to promote attendance at their games. Kids enter the contest by coloring the Crosscutters’ mascot – every entrant receives a ticket to the game. The grand prize winner from each age group gets to throw out the first pitch and be a VIP all season long – every baseball fan’s dream come true!

In honor of the Twins 50th season, Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) hosted this ballot-style contest for their dedicated fans. Each fan selects players for the Twins “All-Time Team” – one lucky winner receives tickets to a summer game.