Two lucky winners of The Canberra Times Best Christmas Ever competition have each won $5000 in prepaid Mastercard gift cards.
Canberra retirees Lynette Mobbs and Gillian Broers were both surprised with the big win this week.
"I missed a call from The Canberra Times and I went to my husband and said, 'Did you forget to pay the bill'? I thought, 'Why would they be ringing'? Then I remembered the competition and I thought maybe I've won $500," Mrs Mobbs said.
The Torrens resident was almost right; just $4500 short.
Mrs Mobbs read the paper diligently every day for three weeks, from September 23 to October 15, to take part in the competition.
She had to pay close attention for the first few days but was soon able to find the secret codes as soon as she opened up the paper.
Mrs Mobbs is planning to treat herself with a weekend of pampering and self-care with the prepaid gift cards.
"I was thinking of maybe taking a couple of days for myself. Go and spoil myself. I've got this idea that this is what I might do," she said. "And of course there's shopping to do, isn't there?"
She said the last time she did something like this for herself was "years and years ago".
Mr Mobbs was also excited for his wife and said she could take him out on a dinner date.
Fellow prize-winner Gillian Broers said she loved reading the newspaper with a cup of tea in the mornings and found it fun to participate in the Christmas challenge.
"[Finishing the paper] takes me quite a while now that I'm retired and so it was not an effort to do that every day," she said.
Mrs Broers couldn't believe the outcome and said it would only sink in when she sees the gift cards with her own eyes.
"You enter these things and you just have got no idea. You just enter them because you think you might win but really you don't expect to," she said.
And what will she do with her winnings? "I think everyone's expecting some good Christmas gifts this year. I haven't really decided because I can't get over the fact that I've actually won!" Mrs Broers said.
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