An Aberdeenshire woman’s loyalty finally paid off when she won £500 in a Press and Journal competition after reading the paper for almost 40 years.
The newspaper published a special code in every edition of Saturday’s YL magazine and the 10 winning numbers were listed in this week’s P&J.
Anne Cadger, 66, from Whiterashes, couldn’t believe her luck after she joked about having a lifetime of never winning anything.
She said: “I’ve been reading the Press and Journal for nearly 40 years, and always get the Saturday paper, so when I looked at the winning numbers and saw that I had won, I was thrilled.
“It really was quite a shock because I never win anything – and that’s speaking from a lifetime of experience.
“But after reading for so many years, you could say that my loyalty has paid off!”
Ms Cadger said she had heard about the competition, but hadn’t thought too much about it. She added: “I put the competition to the back of my mind because I thought realistically I would never win, but now here we are.”
Speaking about what she might do with the winnings, Ms Cadger said: “I haven’t thought about what I am going to do with the money yet because I still can’t believe I’ve won.
“But it’s certainly a nice boost in the early months of the year. Perhaps I’ll give some of it to my grandchildren.”
The competition was held to mark advances in printing technology, which means that every single copy published can be made unique.
A new printing system, pioneered by publisher DC Thomson, removes the need for press plates to be changed to give every copy an identity of its own.
The technology being used involves a new digital printing head, which sprays one billion droplets of ink per second, allowing it to change text and images without slowing down the speed of the printing press.