Meet the Compers: Nathan Dalby

I’m excited about this edition of ‘Meet the Compers’! I love it when young people take up comping and at just 22, Nathan Dalby has done brilliantly in creative competitions since starting last year. Although with prizewinning parents Ade and Wen to encourage him, it’s not surprising that comping is a family affair!

Thanks for joining me here at SuperLucky for a Q&A Nathan!

How and when did you start comping?
I started entering competitions early last year, the first one I ever entered was the Joseph #Stripeclub comp. My Mum had been so successful for a few years and I had never really understood it. She told me to enter because she thought that it would be perfect for me, and from that moment I was completely hooked. I planned the entry and my Dad helped me with it too. It was the first and hopefully last voting competition that I enter. It was so exciting being involved but the stress of having to deal with getting votes, being in first place and then suddenly losing the competition because someone had bought hundreds of votes. Luckily the company running the competition saw all of this and I ended up winning! I am grateful for this though because I learnt straight away to stay away from those types of competitions.

Nathan’s winning ‘stripes’ photo

Your Mum and Dad are both successful winners – do the three of you work together on competition entries?
My parents are the ones who got me into this, so I am happy to help anytime they need me. If there is a prize that one of us really wants then we all sit down and throw ideas at each other, my brother loves to get involved and he has created some fantastic entries. My Mum has a lot of great ideas and my Dad is very creative. I think that we work really well together as a family and always try to do the best that we can.

Which of your parents’ competition entries are you most proud of – and which are the most embarrassing? 
The one competition that stands out for me was the Discover America comp, to win a trip to New York and to watch the Superbowl. Mum had been talking for years about visiting New York and got me to film their submission. You had to do a ‘Touchdown Celebration’ and it has to be the most embarrassing thing that I have ever witnessed. My Dad was twerking, thrusting and just doing everything a son should never see one of their parents’ do. A few weeks later, Dad was unwell and I was sat in the living room with Mum, her phone starting ringing and it was Dad and all he said is ‘Are you sat down?’. She instantly just dropped to her knees and started crying. It was so nice to see them both so happy for winning something they had truly been dreaming of for years, so this is the entry that I am proudest of – but also the most embarrassing!

What’s the best prize you’ve won, and how did you win it?
There have been quite a few comps that stand out for me, but I think one of my favourites was the £1,500 from Metro with the Post-It Note competition that they held. To enter, you had to say what you would spend the money on if you won, using Post-It Notes. My bedroom was in the middle of being decorated so we had a huge white wall and I had just started thinking about making a fashion blog, so I created a huge Chanel 2.55 bag, using the sticky notes to recreate the quilted pattern on the bag and it honestly took me hours. I uploaded the photograph and completely forgot about the competition. I then received a phone call around a month later to say that I had won the £1,500 and I was in such shock. This prize really sticks out to me because it helped me so much, I purchased my website, bought a whole new wardrobe and clothes and a new lens for my camera. It isn’t the most valuable prize that I have won but it means so much to me now because it’s how my blog started.

Nathan’s imaginative Post-Its handbag won him £1500!

You launched your fashion blog – www.plasticloafer.com – in May. Do you think being a blogger has given you an advantage in any competitions?
Possibly. It completely depends on which competition I have entered. If it is something to do with fashion then I definitely think it is a plus to have a blog because if you win, post about your prize, the company is getting promotion out of it as well. I would like to think that I have won a competition because of my entry and not just because the company wants me to post about the prize. Having a blog has allowed to me enter a lot more competitions, I have yet to win one based around a post I have done but I really enjoy writing them.

What type of promotion do you enjoy the most?
My favourite type of competition is something that I have to put a lot of effort into, I really enjoy sitting down and making something or playing around with my camera for a couple of hours. I also love fashion competitions, if you can include something you love in competitions then I think it really does help. Over the past few months I have started to enter mostly on Twitter, it is so much easier to enter on there and keep track of them.

I loved your fun RichKidSelfie entry, which won you an amazing Givenchy Bag. What would be your ultimate fashion prize?
I am bag obsessed. I wake up thinking about bags, and when I saw this competition I nearly screamed. To my parents’ dismay I adore reality tv and actually watch ‘The RichKids of Beverly Hills’ religiously so when I saw this competition to win a bag featured on the show I just knew I had to suck it up and completely embarrass myself to win. Luckily a lot of people hadn’t read the terms and conditions and it meant that only a handful of entries counted. I was sat eating a chinese takeaway and my mum came running into my bedroom screaming ‘You won!’. I threw my plate on the floor and started jumping in the air, I think I was more in shock that I was next to an article about Kourtney Kardashian on E! UK’s Facebook page. The Givenchy bag was my dream bag, but if I had to choose and ultimate fashion prize it would have to be an Hermès Birkin. I could never justify spending £10,000 on a bag but if I won one then I would never let it leave my side.

Nathan’s winning #RichKidSelfie

Your gruesome Halloween makeup won you an iPhone with the Trainline – how long did it take to do?
I had never done Halloween make up before, Mum and I spent one Sunday afternoon on Amazon and just decided to buy loads of stuff because there are millions of competitions around that time of year. We practiced on her first and it was a lot of fun, she actually ended up winning a pair of Sennheiser headphones with the photo that we had taken so it seemed to have paid off. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so for my make up I sat infront of my mirror and did it by myself, after a few failed attempts and several YouTube tutorials later I finally got the look I was going for. My partner then used make up to colour in everything and make it look like flesh and a tube of fake blood came in very handy. Mum actually nearly choked on her dinner when I came downstairs. Overall it took around 2 hours from start to finish, not including the hour long shower afterward and endless peeling of liquid latex from my face.

Nathan’s gruesome Halloween makeup

What type of promotion do you enjoy the most?
My favourite type of competition is something that I have to put a lot of effort into, I really enjoy sitting down and making something or playing around with my camera for a couple of hours. I also love fashion competitions, if you can include something you love in competitions then I think it really does help. Over the past few months I have started to enter mostly on Twitter, it is so much easier to enter on there and keep track of them.

You launched your fashion blog – www.plasticloafer.com – in May. Do you think being a blogger has given you an advantage in any competitions?
Possibly. It completely depends on which competition I have entered. If it is something to do with fashion then I definitely think it is a plus to have a blog because if you win, post about your prize, the company is getting promotion out of it as well. I would like to think that I have won a competition because of my entry and not just because the company wants me to post about the prize. Having a blog has allowed to me enter a lot more competitions, I have yet to win one based around a post I have done but I really enjoy writing them.

Which websites, forums, magazines or resources do you use for comping?
When my Mum got me into comping she pointed me directly to SuperLucky actually, so I have to thank you for helping me! I use a mixture of different things, mostly my Mum. She has a lot of friends on Facebook who are kind enough to share the comps that they find. Twitter is always great as its so easy to find something by searching for specific tags like ‘#win or #photo’. Also, the forums on moneysavingexpert.com are fantastic as they have competitions to suit everyone.

Would love to upgrade my nexus 4 to a nexus 5 with android kit kat 🙂 @CPWTweets #Gimme5 https://t.co/9jYlD6cqGw

— NathDalby (@nathdalby) November 19, 2013

How have your friends reacted to your hobby – do they think you are crazy, or do they want to get involved?
I keep it between my close friends. I am not embarrassed but I find a lot of people are very judgemental about comping. Many people think that competitions are ‘name, address and email’ and think you have a 1 in 10,000 chance of winning. Some of my friends love it and really want to get involved and I help them when I see something that would suit them. They have actually won a couple of things as well which is great. I enjoy sharing my prizes, it is nice to gift things to them if I know they would prefer it more than me.

What would be your top comping tip or piece of advice?
Take as many photographs as you can. There will always be a competition for a photograph that you have, and I think investing in a great piece of editing software is always a plus. I’m not saying you should ‘Photoshop’ your entry but adjusting a couple of things like the saturation or the contrast in a photograph can change the whole mood of a picture.

Finally, what’s on the Dalbys’ prize wish list for 2015?
My Dad and I are tech mad, so phones, tablets and TV’s always have a place in our home. My Mum is looking for a nice holiday or two that she can look forward to and I would love to upgrade my Macbook to an iMac at some point. We will be getting a little puppy Pug next year as well so that opens up a whole new category in competitions for us to enter. The best prizes are ones that we can enjoy as a family so I am exciting to see what we can achieve!

Thanks so much Nathan – and good luck with your comping for 2015!

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