Months after the reward voucher was issued, Debbie Watson of Hamilton Ontario, also known as Mommakoala,  (a formidable contester and multiple Lenzr prize winner) appeared in person at Chocolicks in Toronto to claim an outrageous prize.  She won over 50 lbs of Belgian chocolate and it came as five huge 10lb blocks – each one wrapped up like a big chocolate bar.  She received three milk chocolate bars and two dark chocolate bars, which I believe are unsweetened or semi-sweetened and could be considered antioxidants and therefore not entirely the kiss of death that healthy fifty year old people are looking to avoid. Click photos to expand views.

Outside Chocolicks on the morning of September 10th stands Tina Rogers of Tempo Toronto an online magazine stuffed full of stories and coupons and contests shaped for an over 50 demographic. That age group is hard to target, and even harder to please. Will they be amused by one of their own winning over 50 lbs of Belgian chocolate? Is it like watching a train wreck?

Besides being innovative and entertaining, Tempo Toronto is a very valuable resource for people living in the downtown core of the largest city in Canada.  On these digital pages readers will find good insightful Toronto restaurant reviews, theatre critiques and experiences and write ups on the latest books by bestselling Canadian authors. And of course there are recipes, coupons, links to other contests, and profiles of other cool fifty year old people, musicians and artists and investment bankers.

The 50 Going On 15 photo contest on Lenzr was destined to index the country’s most courageous 50 year old people acting like crazy kids and Debbie won the prize because she showed us a rare glimpse of herself, wearing huge green Elton John glasses and acting outrageous; here’s her Elton Johnish submission. True to form, Debbie started acting crazy again on September 10th after just a few bites of a big bar

Now she can enjoy over 50 pounds of pure chocolate, supplied by Chocolicks, Toronto chocolate located at 573 Eglinton Ave west in the heart of Forest Hill.

You might ask what Debbie plans to do with that much chocolate? We agree, it’s a problem. Perhaps thats why it took her three months to claim the prize. Now maybe she will sit on it for the rest of her life? Whatever the solution, it’s a nice problem to have.

Here’s a quick update on Lenzr member mroy, the winner of the Everyday Tangled Web photo contest on Lenzr.

After traveling in more tropical regions of the world, Mrs Roy has returned to find her prize, a Plantronics Voyager 510SL+ Bluetooth Headset System with Lifter, approx retail value $429.00 waiting for her at the post office.

Overwhelmed, she unpacked the cardboard box and posed with her two grandchildren on the couch. These kids look feisty. You can she’s doing her best to keep one perched on her knee, and the smaller bloke looks equally rambunctious.

So it comes as no surprise when Grandma reveals how these young people were partially responsible for her snapping the prize winning photo. The missing toy was found and recovered only after she’d used her digital camera to look in places she couldn’t get to with her eyes anymore.

Now mroy can enjoy talking on the phone ‘hands free’ and wireless courtesy of  SE Telecommunications a business phone systems design and installation company in Toronto.

THEN A FEW DAYS LATER, Mary sent me this photo and more text below,

Downtown Toronto, its winter time and Absolute Tent and Event Services is stuffed to the rafters with everything required to make a party.  This place is a bonafide party bomb waiting to explode with tents and staging, folding chairs and tables, event lighting and so many other luxuries waiting to be delivered and assembled in backyards all over the Greater Toronto Area.  Kaboom its party time!

Just because its winter time is no excuse not to throw a party. This building is filled with heaters and insulated tents, snow blowers, troughs and buckets. Maybe we should have a made their photo contest a ‘winter parties’ theme?

Their building is huge and multi-faceted and worth visiting if you live in Toronto and you’re organizing an event. Tell them you’ve entered a photo on Lenzr and you may get 10% off…  maybe.

Here’s Laura, the Absolute blogger who is our eyes and ears inside this busy Toronto tent and party rentals house. She gives us the skinny on upcoming events, Hollywood film shoots, parades and even Toronto waterfront conditions from the perspective of a rentals house employee, which is kind of fascinating. The company does movies and big City of Toronto public occasions too, like Canada Day,  Woofstock and Gay Pride Parade  and so its possible she will have celebrity pictures and details about the assembly and clean-up of big urban bashes. Another interesting thing about Laura are the little glimpses we get into her daily life at the business, and how she struggles to improve her skills driving forklifts and

Backyard Party Events is for the little people who host their own good times at home. Every photographer worth his salt has party pictures and the ones we want to see will hopefully show off some residential geography and show off backyard BBQs, games and dancing under shady trees. Already there are shots of some rowdy kids and a whole of beer cans, but I think we can do better than that.

The prize for the Lenzr member that uploads the highest ranked picture is a spiffy new 10×10 Popup Tent, and $500 Gift Certificate * that must be spent at Absolute Tent and Event Services obviously. Laura is actually building the tent prize in the photo above and the Absolute blog will detail its specifics.

The first contest period has ended now, September 1st 2009 and three winners have been declared. These members will soon be contacted by Lenzr admin re:  delivery of prizes, testimonials, and perhaps even candid self portraits. It was a very successful launch and there were so many photos uploaded to the index we wondered about adopting some kind of photo Inventory Software to keep track of all the submissions in all different categories, and indeed this might be something we consider licensing in the future. In the meantime,

Best Toronto Skyline had 46 photos submitted, including some amazing shots with lightning and ducks and vintage shots of the skyline that have all together gathered up over 2500 votes.

The first contest was sponsored by Lenzr.com and brought a lot of attention to the site. The prize is a Pentax Optio P90 digital camera.

The winner is DuCourt, who describes himself in the third person in his Lenzr.com profile, “Thomas is a long-standing freelance film technician in the Toronto film industry who is attempting to transition into an on-set photographer”. That could explain the wide aspect ratio here. There was certainly room for more details, objects and nouns contained in a Storage Ottawa solution, especially for the contest winners who become burdened with fame.

The photo entitled Looking back is a wonderful panorama shot of the city and bears the Caption ‘I took this photo looking back from one of my favorite Toronto hang-outs – THE DOCKS driving range down on Cherry St.’ This photo won the prize with 107 green thumbs up.

Summer in Toronto had people snapping and submitting shots of anything and everything outdoors in Toronto . The rules were fast and loose to encourage mass participation.  This was the most successful contest with 58 pictures uploaded and over 3700 votes.

This contest was sponsored by myCELLmyTERMS and offers as reward one smart phone.

The winner is Snickerzmom, whose bio reads,  ‘just me, a great BF and three cats’.  She wins the grand prize with a picture of a man (her father?) at the Blue Jays game.

Dad at the Game had 112 green thumbs up and the caption may have contributed to the success of this image. Caption “This is one of my favourite pictures of my Dad. For me, enjoying the game with my Dad is one of the best things about TO. It’s our time!”

Stay tuned for more details on Snickerzmom meeting representatives of myCELLmyTERMS to declare her choice and receive the grand prize.

Which phone will she choose?
Emergency in Toronto had 15 photos and gathered over 300 total votes.

The contest was sponsored by Bristall Morgan and offers an Esquire Verve 2020 luxury watch as reward.

The winner is mpirra.  This photographer’s bio reads, ‘I have been an amateur photographer for the past 30 years. Would like to go pro one day‘.

The winning photo,  entitled Firefighter saving lives carries the helpful Caption “Toronto Firefighter returning from a fire”.  This image won the contest with 55 green thumbs up.

Emergency in Toronto event was the most rigidly thematic of Lenzr contest cycle #1. The web challenge tasked users to upload images of Toronto’s frontline emergency respeonse workers in action and because of the stern criteria it received the fewest votes, but perhaps the most attention. Some of our favourite photos have been uploaded here

This amazing woman is the Contest Queen, a very active contest participant and promoter with over twenty years experience and wisdom to share. She’s also a prolific author and thinker and a very informative and entertaining blogger.  Add it all up and Carolyn is a profoundly original web marketer that would probably like to be considered North America’s Contest Queen, and indeed that’s exactly what she’s becoming…

You can read all about Carolyn Wilman, the Contest Queen on Canada Blog Friends which has just recently profiled her and published her vision of the future. The author has once again gone to great lengths to get all the subject URLS in order, and link to all platforms and properties in Carolyn’s royal realm.

Buy her book You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter to read all her secrets.