HoP Idol Finale

This is a bit of a bittersweet moment for me, really.  We've come to the very last round of HoP Idol.  It's been a blast to run this competition and I have to say that all of us here at the HoP have been thoroughly floored by the unexpectedly high quality of all of the submissions we've received throughout the contest. 

Picture is unrelated... or maybe Ice Cube is my idol

For the Grand Finale challenge, our would-be writers have been asked to create the first post for the weekly column that they would write if you, dear readers, were to choose them.  Full details, which is to say a copy/paste of the actual e-mail the contestants received from me, can be found at the end of the post. 

Don't forget to vote beginning this coming Saturday 11/5 (or 5/11 if you live across ye olde ponde).  This week's winner will be receiving his own permanent weekly column here at the HoP.  While you may not think that to be the greatest of prizes ever, don't forget that the HoP is completely advertiser free, authorship here helps promote the writer's personal blog, and the HoP HR department shot down the Amsterdam vacation with complimentary tranny hooker prize idea.

Now to give you a taste of what you're going to see starting tomorrow, we've got three amazing potential weekly columns for you to choose from:

• "The Bright Lantz"- a 40k series on bridging the rules gaps from 5th to 6th ed.
• HotPanda's "Age of Reckoning"- an interactive series exploring the intricacies of WFB.
• "The Von Show"- where Von discusses all things roleplaying and makes a bold, unexpected formatting choice.

Alright, now as promised for transparency, here's the actual e-mail I sent to the finalists explaining their last challenge (typo included- bonus points if you can spot it):

Congrats to all of you for making it this far and helping to make this the best HoP Idol competition yet.  This next round is going to be the last one, so you one of you guys will soon be tasting sweet sweet victory. 

Please find the directions for the last challenge below. 

• Late submissions will not be accepted without first notifying me that you have a scheduling conflict.
• The challenge is due Tuesday 11/1
• Articles will be posted in the order that I receive them.
• For the challenge, you will need to come up with a title and theme for the column you would write for the HoP if you were voted in.  Then, simply write your first article in that series.  Being the first in the series a brief introduction to the theme/goal/purpose of your column would be appropriate.  There is no word count limit, but I'd advise against running over-long.  Other than that, your only constraint is that you will be required to write about tabletop wargaming, roleplaying, CCGs, or the like.

Good luck and don't forget to hit me up with any questions.  Looking forward to your articles as always.