The Next Great Sportswriter competition is back!

Today marks the first day that you can start your own blog to enter the new phase of the competition, so start a blog and dive in.

How do I start my blog?

Just go to this page:
http://blogs.foxsports.com/

And click the big "Start my blog" button in the top right corner.

What if I already have a blog and want to enter?

Just go the "settings" of your blog and check the box next to the McDonald's logo that says "Yes, I'd like to participate in the McDonald's Next Great Sportswritter contest."

What are the specifics?

The entire rules and dates of the competition are laid out in full legalese right here. But a few key dates: The 16 finalists will be announced May 22 and the winner will be crowned June 28.

What's new this time?

Basketball jones: The same way the first NGS competition was geared toward culminating during the NFL playoffs, NGS II will end as the NBA playoffs are coming to a head. As a result, some of the finalists' assignments will be basketball-related. But just as with the first competition and its football themes, the assignments will be broad enough so as not to rule out any of the competitors before they even get started.

Dime drops in: And as a result of this hoops theme, we also have added a new judge. The minds behind Dime Magazine, which has been a valued contributor to FOXSports.com for many years, will serve as one of the judges. Peter Schrager and myself will return as judges after having served in that capacity during NGS I.

Judges vote in final rounds: Another change is that the judges' vote will have an impact in the final rounds. Who advances in each round is no longer solely determined by audience vote. It will still primarily be decided by you, the readers, but we felt it was important for the judges to have an impact as well, especially since our critiques and comments on the finalists were there to be read by everyone.

Let's see some ID: After concerns that some of the finalists might have been underage in NGS I, we will require each of the 16 finalists to submit proof of their age immediately after being informed of their spot among the final 16.

Congratulations to Ty Hildenbrandt, who won the final-round voting over Jon Gunnells and will now become a contributing writer to FOXSports.com.

Thanks to everyone for participating and voting, and be sure to check out Ty's work in the coming weeks.

Voting for finals

1. tyhildenbrandt -- Avg Rating this round: 3.88
2. mustangj17 -- 2.81

mustangj17:
http://blogs.foxsports.com/mustangj17

Assignment 1: Tough assignment here. I'm not sure there's a proper response to which team "deserves" to win more. That said, you went the Bettis route. My only knock on that decision is the media's love affair with the Bettis stuff already. We've read and seen this story a million times in a million different outlets this week. Either way, you did a pretty good job on this assignment. I liked it. There just were a few glaring errors.

Some of them:

--Not sure the word "anecdote" is the right word in this sentence, "Since his high school days, that has been the anecdote for Jerome Bettis."

--You call Marvin Jones an "oaf." The former Jets  linebacker played in 142 career games, amassed over 1,000 tackles in the NFL, and played 10 years for the same team. He's an icon for most Jet fans, not an "oaf." Let's say Marvin Jones actually was a bust, or an "oaf" as you put it, does trashing him and Rick Mirer add anything to this piece? Bettis was the 10th overall pick, not an undrafted free agent. Did the Jets need a bruising running back at the time? Did the Seahawks need Bettis instead of a quarterback? You might have been better off comparing Bettis to the other running backs taken in front of him in that 1993 NFL Draft as writers often do when discussing sixth-round pick, Tom Brady. In that case, it's Garrison Hearst (No. 3 to Phoenix), a pretty formidable pro. Bettis was the second running back taken, and the first back selected had a great career. Not sure the whole "Bettis was overlooked in the draft" angle works.

--"To this day we don't know of him for  Eugene Robinson-ing a prostitute, or parking in his coaches parking spot." I think you mean "coach's".

Good idea, just too many errors for the final round.

Assignment 2: Fun piece! This was good. Having been there first hand, I agree -- the television cameras couldn't capture just how nuts Detroit was during Super Bowl week. Your pictures enhanced the piece well. That was creative of you. This seemed like a fun road trip. The reader's sitting shotgun the whole way through.

I really liked the way you started and ended it, tying the "Europe" bit together.

A few critiques:

--You spelled the word "analysts" wrong. The beauty of Microsoft Word is the red underline feature. By this point in the contest, you shouldn't have mistakes like that.

--Not sure I love the whole knocking John Clayton stuff. He seemed to have taken the time to speak with you guys, pose for pictures, and offer his opinions on your favorite team. That sounds like a pretty cool experience. And then you go on to classify him as aimless. I didn't love that.

Other than that, this was a pleasant read. It was your best work since the opening round of this contest.

Assignment 3: Decent intro. Possibly could have tossed quotation marks around "simple minded" in the third paragraph after you referenced the band Simple Minds in the first sentence. I'm also not so sure anyone "forgot" Willie Parker in the pregame analysis. He led the team in rushing, had a mob around his podium during media day, and had his story chronicled in several media outlets over the past two weeks.

I also pose a question to you while reading this. Do you, yourself, think that Willie Parker's run was a story worth headlines on Monday morning? You write, "Despite cranking off a 75-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half and setting a new Super Bowl record, Parker received little recognition for his accomplishments. Instead the focus was once again shifted towards Parker's colleagues. Hines Ward's MVP selection, Bettis' impending retirement, and Cowher's coveted championship all headlined the postgame celebration." The assignment asks for you to write about the most "underappreciated" part of the Super Bowl. It's fine if you think Parker's performance is the answer. But, you can't tell me you think it should have been highlighted INSTEAD of those three stories.

Also, while telling Parker's story, you fail to mention Duce Staley in the article. Parker got a chance when Bettis and Staley went down. Little facts like this may not seem so important, but when a Steelers fan is reading, he will undoubtedly notice the missing bit of info.

If you're going to tie in John Bender and the "Breakfast Club" at the end, I would have pulled a quote from the actual film. If you want to cite a movie like that, you should give it a watch before writing an article with it as one of the themes. I just logged onto www.imdb.com, and pulled up some memorable quotes.

This one is from Bender, "Screws just fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place."

Somehow using that to wrap up your article would have worked very well.

All in all, this is a solid read. You stated your case and defended it well. Could it have been better? Sure. But so could have the Super Bowl.

tyhildenbrandt
http://blogs.foxsports.com/tyhildenbrandt

Assignment 1: Great intro. You captured the sentimentality of rooting for the tortured franchises perfectly. Nicely placed "Kazaam" reference, too. All too often, we've seen competitors forcing the pop culture issue. You've managed to balance this well. In fact, you've consistently balanced it near perfectly.

It's great that you mention the trick plays in this assignment, which was due long before the Super Bowl. Good stuff.

All together, just a really enjoyable, fact-driven piece.

Assignment 2: Good work. Not your best piece, but still a good read. You've been creative throughout this contest. Maybe I was just expecting a little more out of the "write about whatever you want" assignment. I agree with you that February's a rough month, and you capture the sadness surrounding the final whistle of the Super Bowl. There is one event I'm looking forward too that you failed to mention, though: The "Celebrity Game" during NBA All-Star Weekend. Nothing is quite as entertaining as watching the guy from "Love Monkey" trying to take a charge. 

Assignment 3: Great choice of topic. The trick play has often been the sexiest part of the game, and on Sunday its place in the game was almost validated. Starting the Steelers' long history of trickery with Kordell "Slash" Stewart and taking it through the Ward and Randle El draft selections was great. This is just terrific writing. It's well-researched, unique, and original. There is no reason this exact story couldn't have been on the front page of FOXSports.com Monday morning. Not much more I can say than that.

-Peter

And then there were two ...

First off, congratulations to our remaining finalists. It's been a long road to get here, and you've both put forth the work necessary to get here. And also, a fond farewell to our two ousted semifinalists. Both of them were strong this week, especially Hiplains, and it was tough to see them go.

And now the finals ... the voting runs longer, there will be more assignments and a few little wrinkles. Nothing too outlandish, just want to do what we can to make the final round a little more worthy of its stature.

The voting runs through Feb. 8, 2 p.m. ET. And then we'll announce the winner after the voting ends that day. (**Correction: Previously this statement said voting would end Feb. 7.**)

And as a result, there will be three assignments this week, including the toughest deadline assignment to date.

Assignment 1:

Which team deserves to win the Super Bowl and why? Now, this isn't a piece about your pick to win or who will win, rather who deserves to win and why. This is pretty open-ended, but should be a decent way to show who can take a multi-tiered story and turn it into something compelling. This is due on finalists' blogs by 11:59 p.m. ET this Wednesday night.

Assignment 2:

Your choice. And you thought the previous assignments were open-ended? This one is probably the one I'll be looking at most closely because I'll be working with the winner on his 20 pieces for the site, and I tend to give a lot of freedom to what writers think are their strengths. And I want to see when these finalists are given complete freedom, what's the best work they can come up with.

It can be any topic, any sport, any format, but has to be about sports and not something ridiculous akin to "Here's why you should vote for me." I want the writers to think of it as something that really showcases the best possible work they can produce. This is due by 11 a.m. ET Super Bowl Sunday (but by no means needs to be about NFL or the Super Bowl at all).

Assignment 3:

What was the most underappreciated and overlooked part of the Super Bowl? Now, I realize that a game of this magnitude will be dissected and analyzed 1,000 different ways, but this is the chance for you to expound on the one element you think didn't get enough attention and this is where you can bring this to light.

And this is the one that will really test your ability to write under the gun. This is due Monday, Feb. 6 by 1 p.m. ET.

Hopefully that doesn't seem too intimidating, but this is the finals after all.

-Tom

This week's voting has concluded, and we must bid a fond farewell to the two finalists who had the lowest-rated blogs this week:

hiplainsdrifter:
http://blogs.foxsports.com/hiplainsdrifter

Jon_Mano:
http://blogs.foxsports.com/Jon_Mano

Voting for Week 4
1. mustangj17 -- Avg Rating this week: 3.38
2. tyhildenbrandt -- 3.28

Eliminated:
3. HiPlainsDrifter -- 3.19
4. Jon_Mano -- 2.88

I'll be back later with the assignment for our remaining finalists.