Thousands of entries from across the world later, SMITH Magazine and Mercer are delighted to announce our three winners of Six Words About Work Challenge #1: “My Job: Why I Do What I Do.”

U.S. Winner—Mindy Getch, “Who doesn’t love the payroll lady.” Mindy is indeed a payroll lady, and says she’s been “everybody’s favorite employee” for the Portland, Oregon-based Care Medical Equipment, Inc since 1995. When not paying employees, she enjoys board games, cooking vegan recipes, and hanging out with her boyfriend and their cats. (Something tells us Mindy will like the new Six-Word Memoir board game out this fall.)

Canada Winner—Paola Iraggi, “Amateur chocolatier..making life little sweeter.” Paola was born in Italy, and now lives in a small city called Sarnia in Southern Ontario, Canada. About her passion for the sweet stuff, she explains: “For many years, I owned a bakery and fresh pasta shop in Sarnia. I was making all kinds of sweets, including a lot of chocolate, but for health reasons I had to close my shop. Then I started spending more time in Italy, where I was born, and took lessons on how to really work chocolate with a master Chocolatier in a little town near Rome. I helped in the shop for months, creating all kinds of delights and learned new techniques—just for fun and enjoyment.” Paola’s other passion, unsurprisingly, is for words. “I love to write poems and have written a couple of books—no bestsellers—just for charity and family. Now I go around the house thinking in six words. It can be hard when you speak in Italian all day and try to think in English.”

UK Winner—Lucy Hawkins, “Because brilliant ideas die without encouragement.” Lucy is careers adviser at the University of Oxford. Originally from SE London, she now lives in Oxford, where she started her new job guiding others in their own careers this past January. “I discovered Six Words through Twitter,” Lucy says. “Twitter was one of the new initiatives I set up soon after taking up my new post. Six Words is so effective for personal reflection, and I retweeted it quickly, and then filled it in myself: a nice way to crystallise my satisfaction in finding a job I genuinely love.”

Didn’t win? No sweat. We’re giving away nine more iPad2s or PlayBooks. Our newest challenge, “Inspirations: What Inspires My Very Best Work,” continues through July 30. All entries also are eligible to be part of a special Six Words About Work book we’re publishing this fall. Enter as often as you like on the contest page.