Hi,

Just wanted to chime in quickly to let everyone know that we are aware of the plagiarism concerns that have been raised, and we're in the process of investigating them thoroughly.

I'll also have another post later tonight trying to address some of the other concerns that have been raised.

Thanks again
Tom

Here's the second assignment/topic for our finalists:

Top 10 lists

Again, this is intentionally open-ended to give you the freedom to interpret and respond however you wish. You can create a Top 10 list of your choice, or, if you wanted, you could even write about the concept of Top 10 lists.

The deadline for this week's topic is a little earlier since hopefully people have a little better grasp of things now that the first round is complete.

Pieces must be posted on finalists' own blog no later than 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET this Wednesday.

Good luck to our 12 remaining finalists.

-Tom

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

I'll be back shortly to announce the Week 2 assignment for our remaining finalists.

-Tom

Here is the first assignment for our finalists:

Preview a game of your choice.

Which game to choose? It's totally up to the finalists: NFL playoff game, Rose Bowl, NBA matchup, college basketball game ... you name it.

The format? Also completely up to the finalists: A straight game preview, a prediction-based piece, an evaluation of the matchups, the key story lines, a little bit of everything ... it's all up to the authors.

These assignments are intentionally open-ended, giving the finalists plenty of freedom to write them however they think will work best.

Deadline? Pieces must be posted on finalists' own blog no later than 9 a.m. PT/Noon ET this Thursday. (Note: This is a slight extension from the first deadline).

Length? If you want a guideline, maybe shoot for about 750-800 words. But that's not a hard requirement at all. 500 words might work well, as could 1,200. But for someone who really isn't sure what to aim for, 750-800 words should  be sufficient.

Couple other quick answers:

What's the purpose of this assignment? The assignments are meant to provide some common ground for comparison purposes. This way, all of the finalists will have something that has a similar theme, even if they take very different approaches to it.

Can the finalists write additional pieces? Most definitely. The finalists can write as much as they want, but the assignments ensure they will at least all have one comparable piece on which to base votes from round to round.

What do the judges do now? We will be evaluating the finalists' work on the first assignment and providing some comments later this week, but besides that, we will not have any influence on who makes it to the next round.

Good luck to our 16 finalists.

-Tom

Drum roll please ....

The 16 finalists for the Next Great Sportswriter are:

arabchickencurry: http://blogs.foxsports.com/arabchickencurry

crookdnose: http://blogs.foxsports.com/crookdnose

DC_domer: http://blogs.foxsports.com/DC_domer

detpack: http://blogs.foxsports.com/detpack

DrMidnight: http://blogs.foxsports.com/DrMidnight

Forgotten_Fan: http://blogs.foxsports.com/Forgotten_Fan

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

jdeppa: http://blogs.foxsports.com/jdeppa

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

JWatters: http://blogs.foxsports.com/JWatters/

MBrady: http://blogs.foxsports.com/MBrady

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

Norcalfella: http://blogs.foxsports.com/Norcalfella  

sportstraveler: http://blogs.foxsports.com/sportstraveler  

The_Doc: http://blogs.foxsports.com/The_Doc

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

Congratulations to all of the finalists.

We thought about doing an "honorable mention" list, but there were so many entrants that could have been included it quite honestly just got to be too long. The turnout for this competition was fantastic and we thank everyone for participating. The last few days of whittling down the field were grueling, especially with all the entrants' work in the closing days.

What now?

For the finalists, you'll receive your first assignment from me sometime Monday via the main NGS page here: http://msn.foxsports.com/name/public/Contest/NextGreatSportsWriter

But you can continue to blog to your heart's content until then (and after as well, obviously). And one note of warning: The assignments will have a deadline quality to them, and you will have to have them posted to your blog by a certain time or you risk being removed from the competition. But these deadlines will be reasonable and you'll still have plenty of time to craft your pieces.

For everyone else?

All your blogs remain active and we hope you continue to speak your mind and contribute even if you didn't make the finals. Like I've mentioned before, this is just the beginning for integrating your voice and blogs on FOXSports.com. And based on the success of this first venture, we are working on the initial phases of repeating this competition for "Next Great Sportswriter II."

Also, now is the part where the three judges take a step back and let you, the readers, decide who will be the winner. We'll still be around and have plenty of input, but it's your vote that counts now.

I'll be back Monday with the first assignment for our finalists. Until then, thanks again to everyone for participating and Happy New Year.

-Tom