Results: "Write a Letter, Win a House"

When Alla Wagner suffered a severe back injury last June, and could no longer get up the stairs of her 3800-square-foot house in Millarville, Alta., she made the difficult decision to put it up for sale. After months, and no sale, she decided to get creative with her approach. Her solution: a competition called "Write a Letter, Win a House." It costs $25 to enter plus a letter explaining why you should be the winner. Here's the fine print: the total of all the entry fees must reach the $1.7 million listing price of the mountain view home. Also, the competition is over if the home sells before a winner is chosen. In both cases, everyone would get their money back. And it is not a draw because the winner will be chosen based on creative writing. To reach $1.7 million, Wagner will have to receive and read 68,000 letters. As of Saturday, the 21st, she has received around 300. She hopes that she does indeed get a worthwhile winner for the home she loves but can no longer live in. What is your opinion of this idea?

Sweepers is a term many here may be familiar with -- sweepers are people who enter contests and sweepstakes as a hobby. Volume is the key. Some sweepers devote so much time to this hobby that it actually becomes a full-time job, but for some the payoffs are huge. Do you consider yourself to be a sweeper?

Here's some interesting tips to help you enter sweepstakes or contests.. If you consider yourself to be a sweeper, or even if you just enter these sweepstakes occasionally, which of these do you do?

Carolyn Wilman of Ontario, Canada, is a sweeper and author of "How To Win Cash, Cars, Trips and More." She estimates she's won more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of prizes. According to her, here are some things you can do to increase the chance of winning contests, draws and sweepstakes. Do you ever do any of these?