In June this year PANDORA fans worldwide were bubbling with excitement when PANDORA launched a special competition to celebrate summer in the city of love, Paris. The sought after prize in the PANDORA Paris Forever Contest was a limited edition 'Forever Paris dangle charm. Each 'Paris Forever' charm is beautifully crafted from 14k gold and features two diamonds. These stunning charms are true collector’s items, with only 500 produced. Each dangle charm is engraved with a unique number (from 1-500) and were only sold in selected stores in France. Ten were kept for the competition winners! In this article we meet the winners and find out why they love PANDORA.

I started collecting Pandora shortly after I began my journey of recovery on December 5, 2011, with the intention of rewarding myself with a Pandora bracelet and charms. I bought myself a Pandora knock-off bracelet for $5 and a number of $2 charms. I took it one day at a time and got a cheap bead every day for the first week that I was able to manage my eating (symptom-free meaning no bingeing, purging, or restricting). Each day in my first week presented something that I learned and could represent with a charm, reminding me of something specific that I struggled with or what helped on that particular day. I then got a bead each week, until the end of one month of recovery, until I finally earned a "real" bead, my first authentic Pandora charm - and the bracelet to put it on!

My first purchase was the iconic gift set with the bracelet and two S clips and a safety chain. My first charm was the ocean waves charm. I chose the "ocean waves" charm for that week and that month. I bought it to remind me to "feel the feelings and ride the wave" - to know that feelings wash in like waves, and recede again. They don't last forever. I don't need to fight the feelings. I can just let the feelings come, and let them go, ebb and flow. They will not drown me. They may throw me back on shore, leave me wet and battered, exhausted and drained, but I will not drown. They are emotions and they will not kill me.

Pandora is my hobby and taking photos and writing stories about my charms is my passion. To me Pandora represents recovery and hope. And through Pandora I have developed wonderful friendships and a sense of community.

One of the ways that I am a true Pandora fan is that I have used Pandora in ways that are different than most Pandora collectors, and written stories about them. One of the unique things I've done is to use Pandora to grieve the death of my mother - and to celebrate her life. 

This bracelet I call "My Unforgettable Mom - her life in charms." The process of writing stories about these Pandora charms has become part of the process of grieving - looking through her old photo albums, reading her letters and journals, and writing blog posts around the story of her life.  This photo was taken in 1952 on my mother's first trip to Europe. She brought home a charm bracelet for her younger sister with a charm from each place she visited: on this trip, England, Scotland, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and France. I would love to retrace her steps and do a Pandora travel bracelet, including the Eiffel Tower. But in the meantime I have this bracelet in her memory.

Each charm has a special meaning. From her early years in the 1920's and her childhood nickname Fishy, to playing basketball in university and earning three degrees. From her work as a research scientist to her trips to Europe in the 1950's and 60's. From visiting art galleries and becoming an accomplished artist herself, to getting married and raising a family. From becoming a teacher, and then a literacy tutor, to losing to her sight and becoming blind. For standing up for what she believed in, including access for the disabled, to travelling the world, despite being blind. From a trip to Greece with me, to becoming a grandmother of three. And finally, from losing track of time to a battle with Alzheimer's which took her life eight years ago. The "amazing" charm, simply because she was not only an amazing mom but an amazing person.

I started collecting Pandora on 5th June 2013 when my sister surprised me on my birthday.

My first item of Pandora was a bracelet with additional three charms. They were two “sparkling heart charms” which symbolize my much-loved nephew and me. The third one was the “faith, hope and love trinity pendant” charm.

Pandora means to me a lot of joy and memories. I always have the purpose attached to the charm I actually buy also the ones I get from my relatives and friends.  My collection is a proper story-teller. Each charm combined with the other ones I own can make a nice impression of a lot’s of different lovely time I experienced in my life. Over than this I am able to just mix and match any of my charms creating new combinations of happiness and atmosphere I feel to wear on a new day ready to go.

I’ve taken my Pandora photo contest participate of some of my travelling charms lying on the map and placing them in a circle in various sparkling directions. This shows wherever I travelling to they are always with me. My biggest dream is to travel around the World, I am always looking for the actual local Pandora store to be able to get those charms or Pandora jewellery I can attach my beloved memories to.

It was 4 years ago when I started collecting. My hubby and my son gave it to me for my birthday last July 2012.

My Pandora items were: Two tone moments bracelet, a pair of Love of my life clips with pink zirconia, a Block Letter R for my initial and a two tone heart safety chain.

Pandora means everything to me. I love how it gives me a sweet romantic memories. It allows me to express myself, passion in everything I do, places I’ve been and celebrate all my special occasions.

My winning photo explain how’s true Pandora fan I am. It started when I managed to collect all the limited edition bangles and decided to collect all kinds of bracelets that I could find. It symbolizes all the lovely ladies that I met through Pandora around the globe.

I had always wanted a Pandora bracelet because I love the concept. I finally got one for my 20th birthday from my sister, and I've had one for 2 years.

My first charm was from a close friend and it was the camera charm. I wanted it because I love to take creative photos and edit them, plus my dad's a photographer.

Like I mentioned I love Pandora's concept. I love the fact that everyone around me may have a pandora but no one bracelet is the same. Everyone's bracelet tells their story and you can really learn a lot about someone by looking at their charm collection.

I wanted my photo to describe me and my story including my bracelet. I just recently studied abroad in London for 3.5 months which was a very life changing opportunity. I got to learn about myself and the aspect of traveling and meeting new people. I miss it everyday therefore I thought why not incorporate something that means a lot to me in the photo so I used the map of London. I also used my passport and my bracelet which has a lot of travel charms. I love photography and traveling and I love that pandora can let me express those aspects of my personality through a unique bracelet.

I think I started collecting Pandora in about 2008!

My first ever item of Pandora jewellery was a tiny Silver Moments Bracelet with lobster clasp and Silver letter N charm.

I've always loved jewellery that is sentimental and cute miniature things, so naturally I was going to be drawn to Pandora! Also because of my illness it is hard to make myself feel good with clothes and fashion like most girls do but I can wear bracelets so like to accessorise with Pandora!

To be honest there really is no meaning to my entry! I guess you could say it simply means "I love Pandora!"

I started collecting Pandora sometime in 2014. I've been really wanting to have one but I find it too fancy for myself until my friend gave me her Pandora bracelet with some charms. It was given to her by another friend as a gift but she gave it to me instead because she knew that I really want one. From then on, I've personalized my bracelet to create my own story thru it and have been collecting charms that have significance in my life.

My first items of Pandora were the bracelet with 3 charms and locks that my friend gave me.

To me, my Pandora is the symbol of femininity. You know, most women are so much into fashion and passion at the same time. They give so much importance to their passion but cannot show it to people every time they want. By wearing a Pandora jewelry, or bracelet for that matter, a woman is able to share to other people what she loves the most, her passion, her life basically, through the charms that she chose to include in her bracelet without compromising fashion. It is an everyday accessory, with a meaning.

My winning photo entry is actually a result of my many attempts to do a selfie with my Pandora pieces. But since I couldn't get a decent photo of myself, I decided to make use of them to create the word LOVE. After all, that's what I really feel for Pandora. It shows that there's a lot you can create using your Pandora pieces by just using your imagination. The meaning is what I wrote in the entry, which is "I'm a true Pandora addict because every piece and every charm represents the significant events in my life, reminds me of memories to be cherished and reflects my inner being. Pandora's classic and timeless appeal allows me to wear it everyday regardless of my mood and the occasion. A true fan = the real me."