Question: Prize Winner Question - two top winners

I have a quick question. For our top winner in our Walk-A-Thon, the child who raised the most money would win a DSI XL. All the money has been collected and we have two top winners who happen to be siblings. We were not anticipating a tie and so do you think we should give both a DSI or talk to the parents first or maybe do a family gift of a Wii. We were not expecting this at all. Please let me know how you would handle this situation. Thanks. Sandi

Asked by TurtleCricket

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
Hi Sandi -- Your question spurred a pretty lively debate around here. The verdict was that you need to give two prizes. It's unfortunate, but we all felt you made that pledge and need to follow through. You might see whether you can get a store to donate the items or at least to sell them to you at cost. When you approach them to donate, let them know you'll make sure that all the parents in your school know that the prizes came from them. Tell them you'll put their name and logo in your newsletter, thank them at the next PTO meeting -- anything that they will see as a value for helping you out. Also, your story is an advisory for all parent groups that even though a tie seems unlikely, it's important to put a clause in your rules that a tie will be decided by a coin flip (or similar). In that case, maybe you could have given the person who didn't win a $25 gift certificate. Good luck, and we'd all like to hear how this works out.