A Prize Draw at a School Fete
Paper tickets already exist, a crowd is watching, and the money is not yours.
A fete draw hands out several different prizes in one sitting, live, to a crowd that is already dispersing — which makes the multi-prize bookkeeping, not the randomness, the thing that goes wrong in public.
A fete draw has several prizes, a crowd standing in front of you, and volunteers who have been on their feet since eight. None of the usual advice about online giveaways addresses any of that.
The specific thing that goes wrong is the multi-prize bookkeeping, done live, with a microphone.
Draw every prize in one operation
The instinct is to draw the first prize, announce it, draw the second, announce it, and so on. That works and it means you are tracking exclusions by hand in front of an audience — remembering that ticket 214 already won the hamper and cannot also win the voucher.
The prize assignment randomizer does the whole thing in one action: list the prizes, draw the winning tickets, and get the complete pairing back. Nobody can be matched twice because the operation is a matching rather than a sequence of draws, so there is no bookkeeping to get wrong.
It also produces one artefact to read out and one artefact to photograph for the record, rather than six results scattered across ten minutes of announcements.
The winner who is not there
At a fete a substantial fraction of ticket-holders have gone home by the time the draw happens, so an absent winner is the normal case rather than the exception.
Announce the rule before the first draw. "If the holder is not here we draw again" is entirely acceptable and it has to be said in advance — improvising it after the first unclaimed number is where a straightforward afternoon becomes a conversation.
The alternative rule, holding unclaimed prizes for collection, needs somebody's name attached to it on the day. A prize that nobody is responsible for after the fete ends is a prize that quietly does not get given out.
- State the absent-winner rule before drawing anything.
- Draw all prizes in one operation so there is one result to announce.
- Name the person responsible for unclaimed prizes, out loud.
- Photograph the pairing before you start handing anything over.
Running it with volunteers and a microphone
Two people, not one. The person operating the screen and the person on the microphone should be different, because switching between them mid-draw is where numbers get misread and where the display ends up facing the wrong way.
Get the tickets, the prizes and the list of what is being drawn for lined up before you start. A fete draw that pauses while somebody finds the third prize loses the crowd, and a crowd that disperses mid-draw does not come back.
Say the prize before the number, every time. A number read out with no context makes eighty people check their tickets for something they may not want, which slows every draw down.
Before everyone leaves
Write down the pairing, the prizes and who took what, on paper, before the crowd disperses. This is a school event with other people's money involved, and the person who ran the draw is rarely the person asked about it afterwards.
Confirm that every prize physically left with somebody. An unclaimed hamper in a cupboard three weeks later is the commonest small failure of a fete draw and it is entirely a record-keeping problem.
Hand the record to whoever is doing the accounts on the day rather than promising to send it. The version that gets sent later is the version that does not.
Frequently asked questions
How do I draw several prizes without repeats?
Use a matching rather than repeated draws. One operation produces the whole pairing and nobody can be matched twice.
Why not draw them one at a time?
Because you are then tracking exclusions by hand in front of an audience, which is exactly where the mistake happens.
What if the winner has gone home?
Announce the rule before the first draw. Redrawing is fine; improvising the rule after the first unclaimed number is not.
What about unclaimed prizes?
Name the person responsible for them, out loud, on the day. A prize nobody owns after the fete is a prize that quietly never gets given out.
How many people should run the draw?
Two — one on the screen and one on the microphone. Switching between them mid-draw is where numbers get misread.
Should I say the prize or the number first?
The prize. A number with no context makes the whole crowd check their tickets for something they may not want.
What should I write down?
The full pairing, the prizes and who took what, on paper, before people disperse. It will be asked about by somebody who was not there.
Who should hold the record?
Whoever is doing the accounts, handed over on the day. The version you promise to send later is the version that does not arrive.
Tools for this job
Background reading
Giveaway Fairness Expectations
What entrants, platforms, and regulators generally expect from a prize draw. General information.
When a Raffle Becomes a Lottery
Consideration, chance, and prize — the three-part test, and why it varies by country. General information.
How to Prove a Draw Was Fair Afterwards
What evidence actually convinces someone who was not in the room when you drew.