Announcing the "Do what you do do well" contest

Written by Philip Roy | 21 May 2007
Posted in Site News

UPDATE It's been some time since we've had a contest on NZMac.com and certainly a long time since we've had so many items up for grabs, with an opportunity for you to contribute and enhance what's on the site for the benefit of other users. And it's up to you to do a little or do a lot to increase your winning chances.

Thanks to the generosity of Toshcomputers.com (formerly appledirectseller.com), NZMac.com is going to be giving away 60 (that's right...sixty!) neoprene laptop sleeves of assorted sizes for 13", 15" and 17" laptops, to be handed out as stock becomes available (I have some now, others are to arrive later). Even better...these sleeves are branded with the NZMac.com web address! Hmmm...I think I'm going to have to make it 59 cases, as I seriously want one!

It's easy...submit a great (useful) website and you're entered into every draw. Do more and you get more chances to win!

Neoprene sleeves The name of this contest is "Do what you do do well" and it's an opportunity for you to contribute to the site in the way that suits you the most. Through submitted reviews, feature stories, useful links and more, you'll gain entries into a draw that will see you in to the running to win a sleeve, to be given away in batches of up to 15 every month for the next 4 months!

But wait...that's not all!! For all entries received prior to July 10, you'll also go into the draw for one of the following...

2 coupons of $250 off a 17" Macbook Pro (any configuration) at www.toshcomputers.com
2 coupons of $150 off a15" Macbook Pro (any configuration) at www.toshcomputers.com
10 coupons of $25 off 1gig or 2gig RAM modules for Intel Macs at www.toshcomputers.com

So here's how it works....and it looks detailed but it's not meant to be. Just choose what you want to submit and you can see how many entries it will earn you and in what format it has to submitted.

There are a number of sections on the site that will be part of the competition. If you contribute to any of the following sections over the next few weeks, entries will be listed in your name in the draw. All entries will carry over from one month to the next. So, if you enter a bookmark in to the "Useful Bookmarks" section or a calendar event, you gain one entry. Write a review and you get 20 entries....simple as that. Draws will be made on the 10th of each month at this stage.

Make sure you email me ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) where it is indicated below that you need to do so. The laptop sleeves will only be shipped to a New Zealand address which must be supplied in the application process (you should also indicate what size sleeve you hope to win).

20 entries for a relevant submission to the Features, Reviews, Mac Friendly Companies (on a company that is currently not listed) or the "Local Voices" sections

Features, Reviews, Local Voices

Submissions to these section must be pre-approved before you start writing
Entries to this section of the contest is open to registered and non-registered users
The review is to be 600 to 900 words in length and should include 3 or 4 images as attachments. These can be submitted as an email, or attached to an email as a Word document, Pages or Appleworks file.
Images should not be reduced in size or quality, but should be cropped to remove unwanted parts and attached separately.
Reviews must include a rating out of 5 for each of the following:
- Installation & Documentation
- Ease of use
- Value for money

Mac Friendly (new companies)

If you which to submit a company into the Mac Friendly section that does not fit into a current category (ISP, Bank etc) please contac me first to see if it will be accepted
Entries can be entered into this form (registration not required)
Submissions must be extensively detailed and include the evidence (ie, links to pages) and detailed commentary. Any submissions that do not include this detail may not receive the full 20 entries.

5 entries for submitting a new tip for the "Quick Tips" section, providing updated opinion and information for a company currently listed in the Mac Friendly section or adding a relevant entry into the "History of...Macs in NZ" wiki.

Quick Tips

Currently need to be emailed to me directly so registering on the site is not needed. Email the following:

Article title
Brief description of what the tip is about
Keywords
Which category/categories the tip should go in (more can be added if you feel a category is missing)
The tip (100-200 words is a useful amount)
Any images that should accompany the tip (images are gratefully accepted!)

Mac Friendly (updates to existing listing)

Entries can be entered into this form (registration not required)
The more detailed the submission and the more evidence you provide (ie, links to pages) the more likely you are to be awarded extra entries in the contest. If the submission is too brief, 5 entries may not be awarded
Be careful about updating entries...saying "it works for me" is not what the Mac Friendly section is about

History of...wiki entry

Useful website and Events Calendar entries must be submitted via the inbuilt submission tool in those sections and require that you are a registered site user
You must immediately email me after the wiki entries, so that I know they are from you

1 entry for finding a new relevant link or more info to support the Fight The Good Fight section, adding a new relevant bookmark to the Useful Websites section or adding a relevant Mac event into the Events Calendar section

FTGF links

Fight The Good Fight links can be emailed to me directly. Please note that I'm very fussy about what goes into this section, so it needs to be a good link, with a well written story.
You must immediately email me after submitting website or wiki entries, so that I know they are from you

Useful links

Useful websites must be submitted via the inbuilt submission tool in that section and require that you are a registered site user
Telling me of a needed update or a broken link already in the Useful websites section will also earn you a point.

Events Calendar

Events Calendar entries must be submitted via the inbuilt tool in that sections and require that you are a registered site user. They must be Mac-related events
You must immediately email me after so that I know the entry is from you

Overall Rules

You can submit as many entries as you want, but please keep in mind that many of the items up for submission (reviews etc) require approval first, so there aren't any conflicting entries
Winners will be picked at random after the closing date from all entries for work published on the site at that date
Only one laptop sleeve per user per month, but you can win a second sleeve in other months. Which sleeves are available will depend on what has arrived and already been awarded
Private Messages sent via the forum will not be accepted as entries
The judge's (Philip Roy) decision is final and no discussion will be entered into
Submission of stories, reviews etc must be entirely your own work and must not breach copyright or intellectual property rights in any way.
By your submission you confirm that you have no association or financial involvement in the product being reviewed.
By your submission you grant NZMac.com the right to make publicly available the submitted content as they see fit and (with permission from NZMac.com) for third parties to display your review comments on their site
NZMac.com reserves the right to edit articles and reviews. In most cases, this will be done in consultation with the original author.
Material submitted is not fact-checked for content accuracy and NZMac.com is not responsible for inaccuracies in the content contained in the article.
Anyone who fails to complete the application process will not be considered
All identifying information and correspondence submitted (excluding published material) by users will be deleted at the end of the contest