Spurring participation: Vancity's Viva la resolution! contest now in its 3rd year | Social Signal

A little over two years ago, we sat down with Vancity's Kate Dugas and William Azaroff to help them think through a New Year's resolution contest. Little did we know we were helping to forge a dynasty.

Now the ChangeEverything.ca Visa la resolution! contest is open for entries for the third year in a row, offering prizes of $100, $250 and $1,000 - all for committing to a resolution and blogging about your progress. You can find the details here.

Contests are one of the ways that community animators can encourage participation on their site. Part of what's made Viva! work so well has been the way it dovetails so closely with the site's mission - getting people to list their changes, blog about them and collaborate over them - and highly participatory nature.

Entrants are encouraged to get others engaged in their resolution (and in their ongoing progress reports). And even community members who opt not to enter have a chance to vote for the winner come March.

So, blogospheriverse: have any other contests caught your eye lately? What's the most innovative way you've seen to encourage participation?