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Contestant Submissions

3/29/07, 1:51 pm EST

The Final Judgement: Dan Macsai and Andrew Halberstadt Are Our Last Winners!

Shed a tear: The weekly writing competition is officially over and we have not one, but TWO winners this week. (You’ll remember that the final assignment involved crafting an investigative report on a local business that has been making efforts to go green.) Since we’re naming two winners this week, two editors made the picks:

National Affairs editor Eric Bates picked Dan Macsai, who wrote about Saint Xavier University. Says Eric: “Well written, and it covers all the bases: It has reporting from all the right people, and details about what’s actually been done.”

Executive editor Joe Levy selected Andrew Halberstatdt, who wrote about Flying F Biofuels. Says Joe: “Probably the best written of the whole batch. Solid reporting, a sense of place, and interesting details — having read about bio-diesel several times in the past, I’d never heard that the inventor of the diesel engine wanted to go bio-diesel back in 1892.”

Congratulations boys, you each win a brand new First Act guitar, a Rhapsody Sansa and a spot in our winner’s circle. Stay tuned, because we’ll be selecting a grand prize champion from amongst our weekly winners for a gig writing at RS.com. Isn’t the suspense killing you??

-- Rolling Stone

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3/14/07, 5:02 pm EST

Trendspotter Extraordinaire Chris Senn Wins Assignment Number Eight

You guys are such arbiters of cool! That’s why when it came time to pick a winner for last week’s “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing contest — in which we asked you to write up 300 words on a pop culture trend — we were hard pressed to choose a Numero Uno from our ten finalists. Hence the multiple runners-up, per executive editor Joe Levy:

Winner:

Chris Senn on Childhood Cartoons-Turned Movies

Classic trend pitch: Take a current pop event (new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie opening next week), combine it with something upcoming (big-screen Smurfs in production, live-action G.I. Joe in talks), add cultural analysis (twentysomethings nostalgic for their youth), shake, and . . . instant trend. But what the hell – anybody this obsessed with ’80s cartoons deserves a prize.

Runners Up:

Kimberly Egolf on Dubstep Music
British music trends are like weeds. Kill one and another will sprout in its place next week. I’ve seen dubstep written about in a few places, but this pitch was expertly written. Nice job.

Emily McIntosh on Machinima
We actually ran something small on the Halo movies a while back in Rolling Stone, but this pitch sent me to Machinima.com, and the Halo300 clip was pretty hilarious.

Alex Frydman on “Buzzed” Goods
Caffeine-laced donuts and bagels? Someone’s getting their business ideas from Simpsons episodes.

Mr. Senn will win a First Act guitar and a Rhapsody Sansa. Hells to the yeah! As you might’ve noticed, there was no “I’m From Rolling Stone” this past Sunday. But fear not! You’ll be amply compensated with two back-to-back new episodes this coming Sunday. An accompanying writing contest will follow. Stay tuned! And since you got a week off, take our advice and bone up on your IFRS knowledge with the help of our handy-dandy episode guide.

-- Rolling Stone

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3/9/07, 5:21 pm EST

The Rock & Roll Dozen: Our Finalists for Assignment #8

It’s hard to distinguish between what you think might be trendy — news flash: that whole Eighties comeback thing? It happened like four years ago, so please stop wearing leggings — and an outright pop-culture phenomenon. These finalists walked a fine line, but some of their submissions hipped us to stuff even we hadn’t heard or thought of. Then again, we haven’t been getting out much, what with all those Law and Order marathons on TV.

Read and learn from our ten best op-ed/trend forecast writing finalists. We’ll name one of them a winner on Wednesday. (Spoils include a First Act guitar and a Rhapsody Sansa MP3 player). And you only have one more chance to enter our writing competition. A new assignment will be announced Monday.

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3/7/07, 12:53 pm EST

Brett Lindenberg Finds Your New Favorite Band, Wins Assignment Number Seven

Everyone wants to say they were responsible for discovering the next Arcade Fire. For last week’s competition, you guys did some research and made your case for baby bands on the rise. We thought these ten finalists did a pretty good job of it. But it was Executive Editor Joe Levy who named the winner — Brett Lindenberg, who wrote about Meg & Dia — and two runners-up:

The winner is Brett Lindenberg’s piece on Meg & Dia, simply because a song about killing an ex-boyfriend and sewing his body into your mattress sounds way gangster for two girls from Utah on the coffee-house circuit.

Runners-up are Timothy Anderl’s profile on Moth of the Architect and Christina Poole’s piece on La Rocca.

Don’t sweat it if you have yet to prove your mettle as a cub journalist. You get yet another chance to show us your skills by entering the eighth installment of our contest — the mission is to locate a legitimate pop culture trend that hasn’t yet been identified by mainstream media — here. Deadline is Friday at noon EST.

-- Rolling Stone

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3/2/07, 5:13 pm EST

Best “I’m From Rolling Stone” Writing Assignment Number Seven Finalists EVER

Think you can spot the Next Big Thing? Yes, it seems you do. We, on the other hand, are not so sure. Nonetheless, of the formidable stream of submissions we received for the seventh assignment — in which we asked you to write up a researched profile pitching an up-and-coming band or artist — these ten stood out. We may have some things to learn from you guys after all:

We’ll announce the winner next Wednesday, and the lucky bastard will snag a First Act SFA Edition Lola CE120 guitar and a Rhapsody Sansa MP3 player. If you didn’t get picked this time around, relax already: You can always enter the next installment of our writing contest — we’ll announce a new assignment on Monday. Meantime, tune into another episode of “I’m From Rolling Stone” this Sunday at 11 P.M. EST. That’s an order.

-- Rolling Stone

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