Derby.

What's the prize? Everything nowadays command a pot. Money.

Beauty contests, quiz shows, talent shows, game shows, even pre-paid cell phones' got promo for loading. . And even bloggers offer prizes for contests they put on-line. Most of all, love.

Loving someone, or in an earlier stage, wooing someone requires spending money and time. Lots of them, if the object of your affection is what's called "high maintenance."

I remember joining a contest at an early age. This was for a product promo asking people to give names to two cartoon characters. I don't recall what the prize was but I didn't win.

That episode shows how effective promos could be, if even primary schoolers could be enticed to join.

One time Oprah Winfrey raffled cars for her audience; then Ellen De Generes regulary gives out appliances on her Holiday shows/episodes. These are talk shows not game shows but then the producers know the value of gifts and prizes on their ratings.

For suitors showering gifts on loved ones, the priciest prize is receiving back affection. Even the contrived lines uttered by Rogelio de la Rosa on Mameng or of Luis Gonzales on Gloria would count as gifts, " ibibigay ko sa iyo ang bituin at buwan."

"The unreachable star," is how Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha described his dream.