Winning: Edmonds woman enters 200 sweepstakes a day

Is there anything more exciting than winning something? Well, yes, maybe. But winning a prize is pretty awesome. It’s something KIRO’s Sean De Tore seems to experience more than most.

“Lo and behold, I won a pizza party for myself and 30 friends. I was the ninth caller to 107.7 The End years and years ago and won myself a three pack of CDs.”

But Sean ain’t got nothing on Edmond’s April Jacques. April has taken prize winning to a whole other level. She won her first sweepstake in 2008.

“I think I was looking up music, or something like that, and there was an ad on there. It said, ‘Win a trip to meet Jack Johnson in Palm Springs.’ I thought, ‘Oh, how great!’ So I entered, not thinking I’m going to win. Three or four days later I received a phone call: ‘Hi, I’m such-and-such from AT&T, you are the grand prize winner!'”

April liked that winning feeling and today she enters about 200 sweepstakes a day.

“At the beginning I would enter everything. Oh, the thrill of winning! But now, I hate to say it, if it’s maybe under $100, no, I’m not going to enter to win a little prize.”

Which means she wins some pretty amazing things.

“Out of my twelve trips, the Heisman Trophy ceremony was one favorite just because you have to be invited to that. It’s not something you can just show up to or buy a ticket.”

Yes, she’s won twelve trips, that include airfare and hotel and usually other perks.

“I won a New York trip from Marie Claire magazine. Then, the Country Music Awards, we got to attend that. That was a lot of fun. A three day Las Vegas trip Seahawks tailgate party…”

And the list goes on and on. April leaves for a free trip to Paris on Monday, that includes a $1000 gift card to go shopping. She says every magazine and radio station does online sweepstakes and prize giveaways, as well as big companies like Coca Cola and Kraft, and she has a list of favorites she checks in with every day.

“I usually will spend at least the first two hours of my day entering, if I don’t have anything else to do. Then I’ll take a break for a while. Then sometimes early evening. So maybe sometimes four hours.”

The woman who tipped me off to this story met April at the beach, and she said everything from the beach chairs to the cooler and the towels were all won through different sweepstakes. April’s won thousands of prizes, including a Tiffany diamond necklace, a signed photo of Madonna and a $60,000 boat that she beat out 26 million other entries to win.

“A lot of times I’ll enter something to win the grand prize, not knowing they’ll have a whole bunch of little prizes. So Fed Ex showed up one day and I was all excited. [It was] this little teeny package and I opened it up and it was a ball point pen. So that wasn’t too thrilling.”