A contest entry form has to do three things a contact form does not: take the entry itself, whether a photo, a caption or an answer, check that the entrant is allowed to enter, and get the rules agreed before the entry is counted. This contest entry form template does all three in one screen for a small business running a contest on its own site, and it keeps the rest short, because an entrant who has made a photo is not going to type a paragraph about themselves. The contest form's arithmetic is the contact form design sheet's: fields times seconds is the time to enter, and the page's visitors times the start and finish rates is the entries a month the contest will draw.
The entry, the entrant and the age check
The entry first: a photo upload, a caption box or the answer to the question, as the contest requires, because it is the reason the entrant came. Then name, email, and where the prize can only go to certain places, the state. Then the age check, a date of birth or a confirmation box, because a contest open to children has extra rules and most small business contests are not. Five fields at nine seconds each is 45 seconds on the sheet, with the entry, the email and the age check required.
The rules agreed on the form
A box beside a link to the rules, not ticked in advance: I have read the rules and agree to them. The rules page says what the prize is, when the contest closes, how the winner is chosen and when they are announced, and whether the entry may be shown. This site gives no legal advice on what a contest may offer or where it may run; the consumer guidance linked below is the reference, and the form's job is to record that each entrant agreed. The entry's entry in Shortcodo Pro carries the agreement with the date.
Entries a month, and choosing the winner
A contest page with 1,200 visitors a month, 5% starting the form and 60% finishing, produces 36 entries on the sheet's worked example, and a contest page's start rate is usually far higher than a contact page's. Each entry lands on a list with a status from received to eligible to shortlisted to winner, with the age check and the state on it, so eligibility is a filter and the draw is made from the eligible list. The template is kept with its shortcode so the next contest starts from it.
Questions people ask about contest entry form
Should the contest entry form require a purchase?
That is the question the rules around contests and sweepstakes turn on, and this site does not answer it. Read the guidance linked below and your state's rule before the form is built.
Can entrants submit more than once?
If the rules say so. The entry's sender is the same person each time in the register, so a limit per person is a count on the list.
What about entries from children?
A contest open to children has additional rules on what may be collected. The age check on the form is how a business that is not running one keeps them out.