And the winner is...

Again, thanks to those of you who submitted entries for the reality show contest, and to those who expressed interest in general. It was fun to see what people came up with and I hope to do it again soon, with a different theme. Next time I'll leave a little more time for sending in entries. You'll just have to put up with more reminders!

So. There were some very diverse ideas, and each of them was unique and took totally different spins on the genre. But in the end, choosing the winner was the easiest part of the whole shebang. I guess there's no need to draw this out any longer -- I'll let the results and the spotlighted entries speak for themselves.

The Grand Prize winner of the One Ping Only First Anniversary Contest is...

...Ann! Her entry, Wrongfully Accused,* wowed the judges and unanimously took the top honors. It's a show we love the idea of and we would be interested in seeing how it could be brought to...uh...reality? Congratulations!

Taking the First Prize is...April! If it made it onto the air I know I wouldn't last a single episode on her show, which I dubbed In the Chips, but it would certainly be an education. We could really picture the whole concept and see how the mechanics of getting to a winner would work. Nice job!

There are two other entries I want to spotlight, because they were creative and interesting, and they made the judging challenging! The first one is from Grins. Her show, which I think of as The Chat Boat, could be the Temptation Island of the high seas.

Last, but most certainly not least, is Trading Everything from Fat Dude. His is a funky combination of pure originality and unabashedly cribbed elements from a host of actual shows. Compelling as it was, it's actually a good thing he didn't win this, because it could have blown his mojo for the far cooler contest he won today. Go wish him a great trip to party like a rock star in El Lay.

Thanks and congrats to you all!

* Boring stuff: 1. The ideas expressed in the entries linked here are the copywrited property of the participants who submitted them. So don't even try to steal them. E-mail them nicely and offer them lots of money. 2. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat and want to read any or all of the entries posted here, e-mail me and I can send them in Word. 3. Ladies, I'll be in touch soon to get your prizes to you.