How to Write Winning Slogans and Tiebreakers for Competitions

Most people don't enter competitions because they're not sure what to write in the part, which says: 'Complete the following sentence in no more than X words'. This tiebreaker section is all-important - it's the 'win or lose' part of most contests and inevitably determines the winner. But, consistent winning is all about technique - once you have learned the various styles, which win prizes, it's simply a matter of deciding which you are the most comfortable with and practising. Choose from the following styles:

Play On Words: this is a useful technique for a humorous tiebreaker. One winner said that a bicycle shop offered 'wheelie great deals'. The more of a 'groaner' it is, the better. They are always very popular with competition judges. You might win a trip to the Louvre with a line like 'With more taste for less Monet, what have I got Toulouse?'.

Homonyms: use words that sound or are spelled alike, but which have two or more meanings. For example, a bride won a dream wedding by completing the sentence 'After the wedding'.....with 'Aisle Alter Hymn!'.

Adaptations: this involves adjusting the titles of well-known films, songs or books to fit the slogan requirements. As an example, 'A Dish called Wonder' won a prize from a manufacturer of cook-in sauces soon after the movie A Fish Called Wanda was released.

Alliteration: put together several words which all start with the same sound. For example, 'It's better with a bit of butter!' It's not necessary to make every word start with the same sound - in some cases it can make it sound too contrived. 'Clever colour creates cosy attention' for instance. But used carefully, alliteration always attracts attention.

Contrasts: use two words of opposite meaning to produce an eye-catching effect: 'High quality goods at a low price' and 'You get friendly hellos and lots of good buys'. Most thesauruses list antonyms - words that mean the opposite - so browse through their pages for inspiration.

Spoonerisms: this technique involves transposing the initial letters of words to create something humorous. As an example, 'mint of history' instead of 'hint of mystery'.