NORTHERN PLANNER

Okay, so it 's time to announce the winners to the APSOTW project.

This was hard.

Nearly everybody wrote clearly, beautifully and with a Goldilocks approach; not too long, not too short, but just right.

Everybody had moved on their thinking from the original submission, taking on board, often very honest, feedback and taking it to another level.

In many ways, picking a winner seems almost irrelevant now, after two rounds, a river of feedback and some lovely words back from entrants on how useful they've found the whole thing. But someone has to win.

The fact that Carol is disqualified from winning because she missed the first round makes it easier.

Eventually, I decided the ultimate test was to not view this a pretentious planner, but like a creative would. So I got all the briefs out, quickly skimmed them, and looked for a core thought to help me start work. I felt that all quickly gave me a great place to start, but Zelico just shades it. I wanted just a little more meat, but there was a clear creative challenge that instantly felt fresh against the category and got me want to start generating ideas. There was just a little less contradiction.

Some of the others has incredible pieces of writing and little gems encrusted all over the place, but a creative brief ultimately is about one sentence that acts as a springboard for everything else. Zelico did this a little better than everyone else.

By the way, Zelico also got John Dodds to re-appraise his views on promoting occasional shaving. If he hadn't won anyway, some sort of special prize would have been in order.

Well played. Zelico, you need to email your book preference and address.