Brandon Vogel

We have a winner of our second Next Great Sportswriter competition:

HiPlainsDrifter (aka Brandon Vogel)

After the competition began two months ago, thousands of entrants were whittled down to 16 finalists who were judged on weekly assignments, and in the end Brandon Vogel defeated Brian Moore (MooreSports) to claim the crown.

Voting for final week
1. HiPlainsDrifter -- Avg rating this week: 4.10
2. MooreSports -- 3.16

Brandon now joins the winner of NGSI, Ty Hildenbrandt, in becoming a contributing writer to FOXSports.com.

Here are the pieces that HiPlainsDrifter wrote throughout the final rounds that helped win him the competition:

Final week
Snowballs in...Well - The Cubs and USA Soccer
You Make Me Feel So Young - Wade Bridges My NBA Age Gap 

Week 4
The Agony & The Irony - Free Throws Tell Game 3 Story

Week 3
The NBA Finals: Story Arcs, Screenwriting and the 7-Game Series

Week 2
Show Up Early and Win Some Crap - The Best MLB Promotions of the Summer

Week 1
Holding Out for a Hero - Barrett's Brawl Not a Total Black-eye

Congratulations to both Brandon and Brian, and all 16 finalists, for making it as far as they did, and thanks to everyone who entered and voted throughout the competition.

And it appears very likely that this competition will continue in the future, so please stay tuned.

-Tom