North American Award Center

Information about North American Award Center puzzle contests

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NORTH AMERICAN
AWARD CENTER
Information provided by
The Contest Center
59 DeGarmo Hills Road
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

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THERE IS NO CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CONTEST CENTER
AND NORTH AMERICAN AWARD CENTER

North American Award Center or NAAC is a subsidiary of Contest America Publishers, along with Opportunities Unlimited Publications. North American Awards Center specializes in word search puzzle contests, also called word find or word finder puzzles.

Each contest starts with a very simple word search puzzle. They may use a grid as small as 4x4 (four rows by four columns). The player must find a single given word in the grid, reading in a straight line, as in any word find puzzle. For example, you might be asked to find the word CASH in the following grid.

 
D G I L
P R W T
C A S H
O L K F

       The initial fee to enter these contests is usually very low. For example, there may be a single game with a $10,000 first prize, and an entry fee of $10, or there may be 3 games with $7,000 first prizes and an entry fee of $5 each. Each game will have a series of 4 or more puzzles.

       After the first puzzle, there will be a tiebreaker puzzle that is slightly harder than the initial puzzle. For example, it may have a 5x5 grid with two different hidden words, or it may have a 6x6 grid with one hidden word that appears 3 or 4 times in the grid. The player is asked to circle the hidden words.

       At this point, there will be an offer of bonus prizes. The bonus prize will increase the amount of the first prize, but not any of the other prizes, if any. Typically, the maximum bonus will be about $3,000 for an additional entry fee of $25. In contests with 3 separate games, this amounts to an additional $75 beyond the original $15.

       The second tiebreaker puzzle will be a little harder than the first tiebreaker. Now the grid may be as large as 8x8, and there will be one hidden word that might appear 6 to 10 times in the grid.

       This puzzle will have another offer of bonus prizes. The new bonus prize will be smaller than the first bonus prize, but will have a larger entry fee. For example, the maximum second bonus prize might be about $2,500 for an additional entry fee of $30. In contests with 3 separate games, this amounts to an additional $90 beyond the original $15.

       A three-game contest, that initially cost only $15 to enter, might end up costing $180 to play for all bonus prizes.

       Once all of the entry and bonus fees are collected, the main tiebreaker puzzle will be issued. This will typically be a 25x25 grid with 50 to 100 hidden words, each of which may occur several times. The player must find and all occurrences of the hidden words to win. Unlike the preliminary puzzles, the word list is not provided. Instead, the player is told to find words in a certain category, such as names of colors, animals, movies, race horses, inventors, book titles, dog breeds, or the like.

       It typically takes 2 years or longer from the first mailing of the initial puzzle until prizes are actually paid. Winners of any prize are required to submit notarized affidavits confirming their identities.

       By contrast, in Contest Center puzzle contests the fee that you pay when you enter the contest is usually the only fee. (There may be a small additional fee if a tiebreaker is required.) We do not have bonus prizes that require much higher additional fees. We tell you all of the prizes and all of the fees right from the start.
       Most Contest Center puzzle contests do not have any tiebreaker puzzles. Most of our contests take less than 6 months from first mailing to prize payment.

       Below are some links you may use to reach the Contest Center's puzzle contests.

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