The Group Effort Pay it Forward Contest ends today! It is over NOW on this blog, but different contests have different end-times, so some are still accepting entries.

It is time to announce a winner! I used the customized random number generator my brother made for me, and it chose SaLy of Incubation Nation—and that starts us with a loop right off the bat, because SaLy also threw a PiF contest. Yay for loops! Congratulations, SaLy! I’ll be emailing you for your mailing information…..NOW!

I needed to choose four additional winners for our four blogless participants, Dynamita, Lee, Andrea, and Libby. So here are the four blogless contest holders, and their four winners:

1) Dynamita’s contest won by: May, of the June 30th, 11:22 a.m. comment.

2) Lee‘s contest won by: Kelsey of Midwest Mom. Ha ha! Our second loop!

3) Andrea’s contest won by: Clarabella of Baby Liam’s blog.

4) Libby’s contest won by: Amanda of My Version of the Story.

Yay, winners! I’ve found Kelsey’s email address and Clarabella’s, but May and Amanda should email me at swistle at gmail dot com and I’ll connect you to the contest-holders.

Now. Let’s address some possible situations:

Gol-dangit, I won, like, FIVE contests! Worry not! You have several options. Option the first: choose one or two to accept, and email the other bloggers and tell them to choose a new winner. Option the second: accept them all, and have one big Pay it Forward contest where you have as many prizes as you won contests. Option the third: accept them all, and have one Pay it Forward contest for each time you won, but spread them out over the next year so you don’t go berserk.

Gol-dangit, I didn’t win a single contest! I KNOW, this is sad! I suggest going shopping for your OWN little giftie: if you’d won, you would have had to buy a giftie for someone else, so take those funds and buy something for yourself. We are nothing if not flexible.

I don’t know if I won any contests or not, and suddenly I realize I’m going to have to click through over 60 links to find out! Halp! Bloggers who threw contests, will you try to email winners? Entries without email addresses…hm, that’s a problem. If you entered a whole bunch of contests and didn’t leave your email address, you are a little bit up a creek, aren’t you! See next issue, below.

My contest is over. How do I contact the winner? Start by emailing, if you have an email address for your winner. Whether or not you have an email address for the winner, put the winner in a post. If the winner has a blog, go leave a comment on their blog saying they won, or harvest their email address from their blog. If you don’t hear anything from your winner by Tuesday the 8th (I’m allowing a few days, since people sometimes go out of town for 4th of July weekend), email me (swistle at gmail dot com) with (1) your blog’s URL and (2) the info you have on your winner, and I’ll do a post sometime next week that includes the list of winners who haven’t yet contacted bloggers. I’m reluctant to do this early on, because the idea of creating that post makes me feel like running screaming into the sea. Which would be pretty refreshing, but that is not the point.

OMG, someone won my contest and now I don’t know what to send!! Everything will be fine! If your winner has a blog, go snoop around it and see if you get any ideas. Otherwise, go to wherever you usually shop and poke around looking for something to leap off the shelf into your cart.

I won a contest, but I don’t know how to throw a Pay it Forward! Everything will be fine! First, wait for your giftie to arrive. Second, photograph the giftie you received. Third, post that photo on your blog with a link to the person who sent it to you. Third, include a description of what a Pay it Forward contest is, and how to enter. Fourth, choose a winner and mail them a giftie. Fifth, brush off your hands briskly.

I won a contest, but I don’t have a blog! Different bloggers are handling this different ways, so check the contest you won. If it’s not specified, one way to handle this is to ask the blogger to select a second commenter from their contest. You send a giftie to that commenter, and then that second commenter throws the next Pay it Forward.

I threw a contest, and I also won someone else’s contest. Wait, does this mean I now have to throw ANOTHER contest? If you don’t, the other blogger’s pay-it-forward trail fizzles out, and that is a little sad. Perhaps those who throw and also win might feel more like throwing another one if they can take a little breather first? Maybe wait a month? Or, The New Girl had a good idea: “If you already threw a PIF contest and also won one, couldn’t you, theoretically, just choose another random winner from the contest you already threw to count as your second contest?” YES, The New Girl, and great idea!

Other situations? Leave a comment!