I just recently started using the new and the winner is… WordPress plug-in and I love it. No stress about numbering comments (which can be a nightmare), no need to visit random.org, or permanently install one of their number generator widgets. Just install the plug-in on your WordPress blog, and it will randomly pick the winner for you, right in the dashboard.
Once installed you will now have a box that looks like this under where you select categories and tags. Just click the box when you put up your giveaway.
When you are ready to select your winner, just click this box.
A list of the giveaways you have running will come up. (I didn’t have any contest to pick at the moment, so a non-contest post is being used as an example.)
Click to close comments on the contest you are about to pick.
Then generate winner.
*Mandi wins our admiration for not putting a price on friendship 
If the entrant picked has not abided by the entry rules, you have the option to select a new winner. If you have a mandatory entry, and the selected entry is an extra optional entry, just use the searchbox on you comment page to see if the mandatory entry was performed.
This is my new favorite plug-in, and I know many of my bloggy pals have had comment numbering issues. This plug-in makes that a non-issue. Immediate easy random winner selection, from a free WordPress plug-in. Enjoy.
Oh cool. I will have to try this one out.
Ohhh. I may have to check this one out! THANKS!
Kas
This IS great! I spent tons of time counting and didn’t even like replying to comments on my giveaways because it got to be a pain, counting those out! This will help a lot:)
This is genius, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the great tip! I do quite a bit of giveaways on my three blogs and this will be a huge help!
WOW Thanks for the heads up! Off to install this now. It’s going to make life so much easier.
Thanks for this! I’ve been looking for an easier to use alternative to random.org. Can’t wait to try it out!
Thank you for the thorough description of how it works! I added this last night and love it! Maybe I won’t dread picking winners anyway because of how time consuming it is, lol.
Thanks for explaining and illustrating how to use this app. I had a give-away to do this morning and this blog directed me how to do so.