>Ticket #: http://link to the contest page =T12345678
--------------------------------------------------
>A link to that contest page so the contestant only has to click to go to the contest and claim their >prize(s).  Is this possible?

About putting a link in the template, first we need to decide how to host contests.
There are two ways:

[Method 1] Put a contest on a webpage by javascript.
This is like the first version of photocontest. There is a page in the admin area,
where it explains how to put a contest on a host page. You add a few lines of
code to the page where you want to display the contest.

[Method 2] Stand-Alone Contest Website
This is like the current version of photocontest. A contest owner creates
"a webesite" for a contest. The homepage of the contest will displays pictures.

Let's compare them.

In the method 1, the script doesn't know where you puts the contest.
So if you want to inclued the link, the contest owner should manualy enter
the link address in the admin panel.

In the method 2, the script knows the url of the contest page, so it can
automatically insert the url to the notification email.

As you see, the method 2 is slightly easier than the method 1 but
I still recommend the method 1 because it's simpler, and
more inexpensive than the method 2. Let's start small!