Pioneer: I was looking forward to a chance for you all to submit your own efforts for a task since I believe that some of you have been carried thus far. The biggest surprise of this task, however, was that I feel that the weakest performer was the one who did all the work last time: ukturtle. I found your article, although well-designed and original, to focus too much on the name-calling and hate directed at Perez Hilton and only one of the paragraphs you wrote didn't contain some form of insult about him. It didn't read at all like a PR article, and I think you tried to be too funny and not take it seriously.
I was surprised to see Vanessa storming the public poll, too, since I believe there were two better articles than hers, and whilst her piece was very heavy on emotion and apologies, I felt that it could have been written better - these weren't paragraphs, they were just lines. Overall I think you had one of the easier subjects too, since Kristen Stewart isn't as awful as some of the other potential subjects.
MTVN, I originally picked yours to win because I found it the most positive spin about him, but on reflection it felt more like a blog post from a fan rather than something released by Rick Santorum's press team. The selection of quotes and subtitles you provided also made it quite a piecemeal approach, and took something away from your rhetoric skills, but overall I enjoyed your work.
Salman!, I chose you as the winner because I believe you took the most professional approach to article-writing. Often, stories leaked to the press by a celebrity's PA or publicist won't be so blatantly laden with positive praise, and here you created something relatively convincing and positive about Chris Brown without being so obvious a piece on behalf of Chris Brown's manager :laugh: if that makes sense. I also enjoyed your creativity with the Daily Mail template, and I believe you had the toughest celebrity to portray in a good light.
Lee, I felt that your writing was more of a review of the Jeremy Kyle Show than a PR piece trying to portray him in a good light. Whilst you were fairly convincing and made a handful of good points, I'd have scored you fourth in your team because some of the writing itself was quite informal and punctuated poorly, and it felt a bit amateurish :p

Prospect:
The competition in your team, I feel, is a little more tense because I think you're all on a similar level of ability. Therefore I was going to let this task be a decider, in a way, because I think it tested your ability to read the rules properly.
DrunkerThanMoses, I chose yours as my favourite article because I believe it was a clever mix of facts, media representation and personal opinion and was laid out quite nicely. I would have liked maybe a little more objectivity, because you bordered on the personal opinion side of things at times (rather than positive media spin without the journalist's P.O.V.) but all in all I think you did a great job.
Apple, with regret, I have to say I liked your article the least of your team. I felt that it was more a recital of facts and figures about Jessie J and it was just all too factual and unconvincing. It also felt a bit like a "This is Your Life" segment, and what we asked for really was for one article about something good or inspiring that she's done, rather than a mini-bio.
Munchkins, yours was a close 2nd favourite of mine. I would advise in future that you don't bold and make parts of your article double the size of the rest because it makes it a little more difficult to read (although I understand you're trying to emphasise things, and some tabloids do the same with media articles :laugh:) Again, I thought it was a bit of a blog about Kristen Stewart, rather than a news story that did something well to put her in a good light, so all in all it didn't quite fit the criteria, but I think you demonstrated good analytical and persuasive techniques.
Much the same with the other candidates I can say for yours, Jamie, as I felt the Jeremy Kyle piece was not terribly well-written, but tugged on the heartstrings in all the right places and made a fairly convincing argument in favour of Jeremy Kyle.
Roy, I felt your piece was a little shorter than the others' and although I enjoyed your writing style a little more than others' because it was freer and less reported, I don't really understand where this would have been published. It could have just been someone on Tumblr, it could have been a leaflet put through people's doors. I didn't think it was very convincing as a newspaper article, and I don't think it would have convinced the public to change their perspective of Mitt Romney - this would have been more suited to a Romney fanclub.

Overall
I think that Prospect had some well-written articles in general, but sadly I think all of them struggled to meet the whole 'PR' side of things. For this reason, I choose Pioneer as the winners, because I think some of their pieces would have looked more at home in journalists' writing and were presented with a neutral rationality, which made it all the more convincing

ukturtle - I loved the style and layout of your piece, it was very eye catching. I found it well written and pacey, although you deviated from what I was expecting in that you did seem to heavily take the piss out of the unfortunate chap, yet I liked the irreverent tongue in cheek style so I can't be too harsh there. You also made yourself available to help a fellow team mate who was having I.T. issues with her finished article, very commendable as you were in direct competition. Brownie points for that :D

Lee - I found your piece punchy and humorous, it read well (imo humble opinion) and I really enjoyed it. Your warmth for your chosen celebrity was conveyed well, very persuasive and no - nonsense, much like Mr Kyle himself. It could have benefitted from a few frills, bit of colour and a better layout, but was a very good effort indeed.

Vanessa - You demonstrated a great deal of enthusiasm for this task, and you are a consistent hard worker who gives her all in every challenge. As an article your piece was great, it was interesting, and you had clearly researched Kristen well. Highly informative :) However, the P.R. aspect was somewhat less than I would have preferred, you concentrated more on making it a factual piece with a bit of a "sell" at the end, rather than much actual P.R.

Salman - Your style and layout impressed me no end, clearly a lot of thought and effort went into it, although you did have to be prompted (:p) I also loved your article, it was a good read, grabbed my attention and I liked your approach. You sold your celebrity well, using an element of humour and not trying to re-invent your celeb as a saint. Jolly good show.

MTVN - What I liked about your article was that you used a lot of quotes, which reflected your chosen celebs' good qualities and were a very good selling point. You broke up the article nicely with use of pictures and that made it easy reading, it had a nice flow to it. Again, you "sold" your celeb in an understated manner, and I found the article interesting and informative. You backed up your argument well with the use of statistics. Well researched.

*Also - I must give a couple of Brownie points to MTVN, who very kindly and on his own initiative closed the polls for me at the requested time. Marvellous! :love: Have a lollipop as well.

Apple202 - Your article showed how much of a successful international musician/pop star Jessie J is, reflecting on her outstanding music career and the public interest she's received worldwide. You showed her in a very good light, and it was a very well written and informative write-up, so good job.

DrunkerThanMoses - Your article was very impressive indeed, showcasing just what an honest successful businessman/television personality Piers Morgan truly is. Leaving aside the hatred for him, and instead showing to us all what a great honest chap he is. A very good write-up, excellent work.

Jamie585 - Your article showed that Jeremy Kyle is in fact a very nice chap indeed, illustrating just some of the ways he has helped make the world a better place. You managed to put across the message that he has helped improve so many people's lives, something we should all be grateful for, as if any one of us end up in that situation, Jeremy will be there to help. Good job.

Munchkins - Your article proved there is a good side to Kirsten Stewart, and how she hasn't deserved the bad press she's received. In turn you proved how she is in fact doing good as well, brushing off all the attention that has been drawn to her in a negative light. You did a very good job writing it up with the time you had and also I liked how you highlighted important positive things, such as the fact she is young and is genuinely sorry for her actions.

Roy Mars III - Your article showed just what a hard-working heroic chap Mitt Romney is. A beautiful write-up that brought a tear to my eye, and just sheer proof how robbed he was from the presidential election. If only you were his campaign manager, he would've surely won the race. Kudos.