Congratulations to Shandean: January Winner of the College Mate Contest

In January of 2017, we launched our first mini-writing contest on College Mate. It generated quite a bit of interest, from tropical Jamaica to rainy London.

But only two young ladies were brave enough to pitch us, submit their content to our editing standards, and see their work published on the website.

The Submissions

We were impressed by Zee’s Group versus Solo Study piece. Her writing style is eerily similar to that of our Founder & Managing Partner, Alexis Chateau. This made for the easiest editing session we’ve ever had in ten years of business.

We were then inspired by Shandean’s tips on How to Market Yourself Before you Graduate. Shandean covered a topic most college students rarely think about, but one that’s integral to success after graduation.

Race to the Finish Line

We then watched as Shandean popped up across our social media feeds, promoting her piece. By the time we were ready to count up the views for Zee’s blog post, we noticed a curious thing. Shandean’s article already had nearly twice the views.

To drag the contest out any longer would have been a waste of time. So we promptly notified the contestants, and sent Shandean her prize money.

Alex then reached out to The Winner to congratulate her. The two Jamaican natives had a chat about winning, and the work she put into it. Here’s what Shandean had to say!

Winning by a Landslide

I’m really glad I won. Alexis is my mentor, (if only in my head), as I forge ahead with writing as a career and building an online reputation. So I follow all her blogs (that I know of) and do take her advice to heart.

Spending the Prize Money

I’m going to add the money to an account I have been using just for my freelance business. As a business planning consultant, one of the things I take to heart is investing in yourself and separating business money from personal money.

The Inspiration

The idea for the article came from my realizing when I decided to go freelance that I knew absolutely no one, and I struggled to even find a lecturer that knew me from college to stand as a reference when I was applying for graduate school.

That’s when it dawned on me that my “go to class, go back to my room and be a hobbit” regime all throughout college may not have been the best course of action. In short, this is something I wish I had known and done.

So I thought it was advice worth sharing.

Promoting the Article

I shared the article on my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and asked my friends on WhatsApp to read it and share.

Since I’m just trying to build a network, and my friends and associates have continually expressed that they like my writing and the content of my blog, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to see if others would too. 

 

Shandean then let us know she planned to compete again for round two. And sure enough, she sent in her February submission just two days later.

If you think you have what it takes to go up against this Promo-Queen, pitch us, submit, promote, and may the force be with you!

You’ll find the contest rules here.

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About Shandean Williams-Reid

Shandean is a freelance business analyst and planning consultant from Kingston, Jamaica. She is passionate about reading, family, and life. Though new to the blogging world, she already successfully manages two websites: a business website and a personal lifestyle blog.