A quick guide on how to choose a winner. There are many ways to structure a raffle, and the method you choose can influence engagement, fairness, and excitement. Below are some of the most popular approaches for selecting a winner.
- Choose a winner at random
- Choose a winner by votes
- Choose a winner by exact guess
- Choose a winner by activity
- Choose a winner by correct answer
- Choose a winner by judges’ decision
- Choose a winner by an exact time
Let’s look how each concept works:
Random selection: the classic approach
This is the simplest and most commonly used method. All participants are entered into a pool, and a winner is chosen randomly. You can do this manually by drawing names from a hat or use an online randomizer tool (more on this later).
- Simple implementation: the most straightforward method—participants enter a pool and winners are selected by chance, requiring only a minimal setup.
- Perceived fairness: everyone has an equal opportunity, creating a level playing field that participants trust and appreciate.
- Digital Tools: from simple “names in a hat” to sophisticated online randomizers, you can scale this method for any contest size.
Winner by votes: community choice
You can engage your audience by allowing them to vote for a winner. Each participant receives a certain number of points, which they can distribute among other contestants. While self-voting is expected, this method encourages community interaction.
The “Winner by Votes” method is a great way to engage your audience and create a sense of community involvement in the raffle or contest. This method allows participants to vote for their favorite contestant, and the one with the most votes wins. By letting the community decide the winner, you encourage interaction, competition, and excitement among participants.
- Assign points: Each participant (or voter) is given a set number of points or votes to distribute among the contestants. The number of points can vary based on your preferences (e.g., each participant gets 3 points to distribute).
- Voting process: Participants vote by allocating their points to one or more contestants. Points can be distributed evenly or weighted according to the voter’s preferences (for example, giving 2 points to one participant and 1 point to another). Self-voting is typically allowed, meaning participants can vote for themselves, but they are encouraged to also support other contestants.
- Vote collection: Votes are collected, and the total number of points each participant receives is tracked. The participant who receives the highest number of points wins the contest.
Winner by exact guess: closest answer wins
In this type of contest, participants are asked to provide an estimate or guess in response to a quantitative question. The question could involve anything that requires a numerical answer, typically something that is not easily calculable but still possible to estimate. Classic examples include asking participants to guess how many marbles are in a jar, how many people will enter a raffle, or how many golf balls can fit in the trunk of a specific car. The key to this approach is that the answer must be based on estimation or an informed guess rather than specific knowledge or skill.
Once all participants have submitted their guesses, the winner is determined by the closest answer. In cases where multiple contestants provide the same guess or near-identical answers, you can either declare multiple winners or implement a secondary tie-breaker. This type of contest can be fun and engaging, as it encourages participants to think creatively and make educated guesses while adding an element of suspense to the final reveal. Additionally, it works well in situations where exact answers may not be easily known, but the guessing process still remains fair and engaging for all participants.
Winner by activity: rewarding effort and loyalty
Reward the most active participant. Activity can be measured by ticket purchases, comments, shares, or engagement volume.
Winner by correct answer
In this method, you engage participants by posing a question—or a series of questions—related to the theme of your raffle or contest. The questions can vary in difficulty, depending on how challenging you want the selection process to be.
- Ask a question: You can ask one or more questions that participants must answer correctly. The questions could range from trivia, to solving puzzles, or providing facts that relate to the raffle’s theme.
- Eligibility: All participants who provide the correct answer(s) are eligible to enter the next stage of the contest—this could be either a random draw or direct rewards.
- Random Draw: If multiple participants answer correctly, they are entered into a pool where a winner is selected randomly. This keeps the process fair and unbiased, even among those who succeeded in answering.
- Direct Prize Distribution: Alternatively, you can reward all participants who answered correctly. For example, each correct answer could win a smaller prize, or a grand prize can be given to one or more of the winners selected at random.
Winner by judges’ decision: expert evaluation
For creative contests like photography, writing, design competitions, or hackathlons, a panel of judges evaluates entries and selects the winner based on predefined criteria.
- Establish criteria: define clear judging standards
- Assemble panel: recruit qualified judges
- Evaluate submissions: assess entries against criteria
This method is perfect for creative contests like photography, design, writing competitions, or hackathons. It values quality and creativity over chance, making it ideal for brands wanting to showcase exceptional talent and creativity.
Winner by exact timing: the clock decides
A predetermined time determines the winner. Participants must submit their entry at the exact moment set to win. This method is less common due to its unpredictability but can create an exciting challenge.
Need to pick a winner at random?
Here are several tips for choosing the right raffle app. In some cases, you don’t need any software—simply write all the names on small pieces of paper and draw a winner from a hat. To ensure transparency, you can record the drawing on video and invite witnesses to verify that the drawing was fair. However, for more complex raffles, a more advanced solution may be necessary.
Case 1: You don’t plan to show the drawing live or prove the fairness of the drawing to anybody
If this is your case, you can do it quickly in an excel spreadsheet. We have prepared a simple excel randomizer template to download t. Put your entries there and excel picks a random winner for you.
You can also use a simple online randomizer – there are many of them available. You can choose for example this random name picker to help you do the task instantly.
The obvious problem is that you don’t have any evidence that the drawing was unbiased, and the prize didn’t go to some of your friends.
Case 2: You want to prove the drawing was unbiased
You will need a clever tool that can identify when somebody is trying to cheat. Such a drawing platform should detect when somebody is trying to repeat the drawing to get the “right” winner or do other bad things to trick the system.
We created our random picker app exactly for this reason –to prove that your drawings are fair and unbiased. There are many measures that RandomPicker includes in order to prevent cheating.
The system also generates a record for each drawing so participants can check that everything went right, and they were in the drawing. You can sign up and try it for free.
Case 3: You want to show the drawing live or publish the recording
You can use any of the above-mentioned approaches and stream the drawing sharing your laptop screen to the canvas or internet. You can also use a live event randomizer that is suited for these opportunities.
It shows the drawing process, countdown and animation on a customized page.
You can share the page with your audience so people can watch the drawing without any special device or software.
The visualisation of the winner selection is stored and people can watch the drawing later.
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