Current Contest

Hi Pat,

I understand your concerns and want to reassure you that we still really care about the community, which is why we're still doing contests. Recent entries have been pretty low, but they're still really meaningful to us! Hopefully doing them quarterly will mean more participation. And even though our focus on community has changed shape, we actually think it's deepened and broadened over the past 10 years. For instance, we spend a lot of time on our Cookbook and Baking Clubs on Facebook and on our Instagram account, interacting and supporting the strong communities that have formed there. We have also put a lot of energy into seasonal efforts like the Holiday Swap, which had more than 1,000 participants this year! We're constantly exploring new ways to engage with and involve our community and always hope they're things everyone will enjoy.

Thanks so much again for your feedback,
Joanna

@Joanna...
Two responses...
1) question. On what basis do you think making the contests quarterly will generate MORE participation? Just curious, because I can't figure it out.
2) suggestion. Make the contests more frequent than every 3 months, say every 2 months.
Why?
At more frequent intervals people will look in to see the topic and maybe participate. More traffic for the site.
At shorter duration, there's more interest because you may hear results and be able to cook the contending dishes in the season when & for which they were developed.
If staff time to review entries and test finalists is an issue, handle it by putting a cap on # of entries, rather than extending the duration of each contest with no limit on # of entries.
Over to you.

Hi Nancy!
We would honestly love to have the contests more frequently, but they require a lot of resources from the small team that works on them. We've decided to do them quarterly in order to execute them to the best our ability. I do appreciate your suggestion, and will certainly take it into consideration moving forward!

I agree! One day the feature was there and then it vanished.
I get notices that members are saving my recipes, which is wonderful. I, too, miss the running total. What was the reason for removing it?
BB

I agree, Karen and BB. I loved seeing how many saves there were on my recipes. The tally was a great feature both for those who submitted recipes and those considering whether to try one out.

Thanks for your response Ella but I think you're missing my point. I see rules popping up that were never presented to us before (ex: 25% rule) even though you say it was there last year (where???) If these contests are just for a "happy dance" why shouldn't the whole community be able to participate, not just US citizens? Little things like this make me feel more and more distant (and I don't want to!)

Inpatskitchen
Saw requirement that ingredients be in common US measures & NOT include any ingredient illegal in USA.
But nothing about citizenship.
If yes, where?

Sorry Nancy...I meant to say "US residents" found in contest rule #9.

Thanks for correction to US residents.
I've seen this wording in other contests and think it comes from state or national regulations.