Hi, and hope you all had a good Christmas and a good New Year’s day celebration.

In this shorter than usual competition (just 2 weeks) we only have a top 12.

The prizes this time are slightly different than normal, in that the winners can puruse the eBay prize shop and choose any DVD / CD up to a certain value. £12 for the winner, £10 for second and £8 for the highest new winner. So for that reason I will be emailing all the winners in the next hour with details, as soon as you have made your choice, email me back and I will arrange the rest.

Here are the rankings :

1 ( 3 ) Stewart Lennox
2 ( 1 ) Richard Hewison
3 ( 9 ) Graham Mather
4 ( 7 ) Michael McCarthy
5 ( 4 ) Matthew Clegg
6 (12) David Longstaff
7 ( 8 ) Robin Timms
8 (11) Vaughan Davies
9 (13) Sam Shuttler
10 (Re) Anna Watson
11 (NE) Fiona Munro
12 (17) James Boag

Where Re is a Re-entry, i.e. a player coming back to the rankings, and NE (New Entry) is a new player to UltQuiz / the rankings.

So on to the winners. Stewart Lennox reclaims the top spot for a record breaking 23rd time, from Richard Hewison, both these players came 1st and 2nd respectively in the James Bond Themes competition and so are still ineligible for a prize win. They will next be eligible for the first of the double decade competitions.

Graham Mather from North Yorkshire who last won back in August for the Summer Freestyle is eligible for this and wins the first prize. This is Graham’s 4th prize main win (previously winning Summer Freestyle, 2008’s 70s Decade Champions, and Soul Selection), he also has come runner-up on two competitions (BritPop and August Number 1s). Well done Graham.

Michael McCarthy came 4th in the rankings but has one more competition to go before he is eligible again. So he will be back in play for the Colours competition. Matthew Clegg came fifth in the rankings but was a prize winner from the last competition Reality Stars.

David Longstaff from Cleveland, who last won a prize in the Punk competition back in September, picks up the runners-up prize. David was one of our first main prize winners back in September 2006. Since then David has also picked up 4 runners-up / bonus prizes. Well done David.

Our next prize goes to the highest player who has never won a prize before and this goes to Vaughan Davies. Vaughan joined UltQuiz in October 2006, and has been very close to winning on a number of occasions. Well done Vaughan.

Tonight, after midnight (4/01), the colours competition will start. Thanks to Si Harris for suggesting this one. We have ten artists that all have colours in their names. These artists are based in the 90s and 00s and so the prize year range, which you must select to be in with a chance of winning some great DVD / CD prizes is 1990 to 2007.

The artists are :

Blue
Black Eyed Peas
David Gray
Goldfrapp
Green Day
Ian Brown
Maroon 5
Pink
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
The White Stripes

If you have any suggestions for further competitions and we have some good ones in the future like, chat show hosts, reality stars (the early years), eurovision, then reply to this blog with some further suggestions.

Keeping with the maximum choice for the freestyle competition, sFawleys eBay shop has kindly said that the three winners can pick their own prizes this time. With over 3,000 CDs and DVDs to choose from. The winner of the competition will be entitled to a CD / DVD worth up to £12.  Second place up to £10, and third place (highest new winner) will be allowed to choose up to £8. Please note this value relates to the basic price of the item.

Another exciting competition has just come to an end and we have some more new winners, and also a brand new player at the top of the rankings. Here is the ranking for the top 18, please note this is based on the highest attempt using the correct prize years.

1 ( 4 ) Richard Hewison
2 ( 6 ) Paul Townsend
3 ( 1 ) Stewart Lennox
4 ( 12) Matthew Clegg
5 ( 2 ) Howie Ross
6 ( 9 ) Michael Ward
7 ( 10) Michael McCarthy
8 ( 7 ) Robin Timms
9 ( 5 ) Graham Mather
10 ( Re) Simon Large
11 ( 8 ) Vaughan Davies
12 ( Re) David Longstaff
13 ( NE) Sam Shuttler
14 ( 14) Kevin Staples
15 ( NE) Matias Rodriguez
16 ( NE) Wayne Avery
17 ( NE) James Boag
18 ( NE) Leo Sands

Where Re is a Re-entry, i.e. a player coming back to the rankings, and NE (New Entry) is a new player to UltQuiz / the rankings.

First up and a well done to Richard Hewison who has topped the rankings for the first time. Richard comes from Hertfordshire and won a prize in the last competition (James Bond Themes) and so is ineligible for a prize this time.

Paul Townsend from Lancashire won our highest newcomer award last time and came second in the rankings. When you win the highest newcomer award this is seen as a bonus and so you can still win the main prize within a 4 competition period. Well done Paul.

Stewart Lennox from Suffolk is knocked down to 3rd place, and as he won the top prize last time is ineligible.

Matthew Clegg from West Yorkshire was 4th in the rankings and picks up the runners-up prize. This is Matthews 4th prize after winning runner-up prizes for Long Running Numbers 1s, Boy Bands and My Favourite Years (1985 to 1989). Well done Matthew.

The newcomer / highest person never to win a prize award goes to Robin Timms. Robin is from Northants. Robin joined UltQuiz in September this year and has been close to winning this prize a couple of times already but just got pipped at the post. It is good to see Robin finally win, well done.

Please note all the winners will get an email from me shortly saying they have won, one of the 3 prizes. Paul gets first choice, Matthew second and Robin third.

Thanks for your support over 2008 and see you in 2009, have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Here are the current top 10, with their respective AB points and scores, and a note at the bottom of prize eligibility.

1. Richard Hewison  40AB 49,390
2. Paul Townsend    36AB 53,440
3. Stewart Lennox   34AB 37,730
4. Matthew Clegg    24AB 18,520
5. Michael Ward     14AB 15,640
6. Michael McCarthy 11AB  7,100
7. Robin Timms       7AB  6,900
8. Graham Mather     6AB  2,440
9. Vaughan Davies    3AB    880
10. Kevin Staples     1AB    740

Above are the highest scores from the players on the right prizes years, but the 4 week competition rule also applies to eligibility. Richard Hewison was runner-up last time so is ineligible this time round. However because Paul Townsend won the highest newcomer award last time he is eligible for the main prize, and so is looking to win if the scores stay the same for another week. Stewart Lennox won last time so is still ineligible, so the runner-up currently looks to be Matthew Clegg. Lastly the highest newcomer (a player that has never won a prize before) is currently Robin Timms.

2 weeks in and 2 weeks to go, here are the top 5 players, showing their highest attempt using the correct prize years :

1. Richard Hewison 39AB, 48150
2. Paul Townsend 36AB, 53440
3. Stewart Lennox 34AB, 37730
4. Matthew Clegg 24AB, 18520
5. Michael McCarthy 11AB, 7100

I will look at prize eligibility next week, but currently it looks like Richard could top the rankings and be the first new person to do that since Kim Summers last year.

Three prizes to give away to the two top scores for the prize years (2000 - 2007) and one for the highest new winner. These prizes are given out on a winners choice basis. I.e. 1st place gets the pick of the 3, 2nd place gets the choice of the two remaining and the last one gets the one that is left. So please check your emails on 21st December (Sunday, late morning), if you think you might have won, so that I can allocate these prizes quickly for everyone.

The prizes for the Reality theme are shown on the prizes page, but the track details are below :

Strictly Come Dancing (2004) DVD

Filmed at the famous Rivoli Ballroom. Features: ‘Samba’, ‘Waltz’, ‘Rhumba’, ‘Tango’, ‘Foxtrot’, ‘Jive’, ‘Quick Step’ and ‘Cha Cha’.

Will Young Live In London (2004) (DVD)

17 Tracks

friday’s child
out of my mind
love is a matter of distance
light my fire
very kind
save yourself
dance the night away
i love you more than you’ll ever know
free
evergreen
over you
stronger
love the one you’re with
leave right now
in the stone
you and i
your game

special features are :

interview
behind the scenes
friday’s child ~ video
your game ~ video
leave right now ~ video
making of each of the above 3 videos
matador sequence
clown sequence

Pop Idol Big Band Album (CD)

Tracklisting below

1. Beyond the Sea - Will
2. Get Happy - Zoe
3. Let There Be Love - Darius
4. Mack the Knife - Gareth
5. Every Time We Say Goodbye - Jessica
6. I Get a Kick Out of You - Aaron
7. Ive Got You Under My Skin - Zoe
8. That Old Devil Called Love Agin - Hayley
9. I Wont Dance - Will
10. Night and Day - Korben
11. Cheek to Cheek - Rosie
12. They Cant Take That Away
13. Oh Look at Me Now

Very exciting competition this time, and we have two brand new players who have won prizes.

Top 15 rankings below :

1 ( 2 ) Stewart Lennox
2 ( 4 ) Howie Ross
3 ( 1 ) Kim Summers
4 (NE) Richard Hewison
5 ( 3 ) Graham Mather
6 (NE) Paul Townsend
7 (12) Robin Timms
8 ( 7 ) Vaughan Davies
9 (13) Michael Ward
10( 5 ) Michael McCarthy
11(Re) Karen Freedman
12(Re) Matthew Clegg
13(Re) Michael Hallows
14( 8 ) Kevin Staples
15(NE) Jacky Vaz

Where Re is a Re-entry, i.e. a player coming back to the rankings, and NE (New Entry) is a new player to UltQuiz.

Stewart Lennox reclaims the top slot for a record breaking 22nd time and wins his 10th first prize, well done Stewart. Stewart will have the choice of the Bond Themes CD, Shirley Bassey or A-Ha DVDs.

2nd place is Howie Ross but he won last time (60s Bands) so he is ineligible, as is Kim Summers who won two competitions ago (Punk).

So the runners up prize goes to our first newcomer Richard Hewison. Richard comes from Hertfordshire and joined UltQuiz literally 6 days ago. Richard will get second choice of the above prizes. Well done Richard.

Our highest first time winner award goes to Paul Townsend, who hails from Lancashire and joined us just over a fortnight ago. Well done Paul. Paul will get 3rd choice of our 3 prizes.

Expect to see a lot more new players soon, as I have just finished some banners which will be displayed on some high profile sites. You may have noticed we are also quite high up the rankings if you type ‘Pop Quiz’ into Google UK.

Please note it is not possible to log in to any accounts at the moment, there is a quota issues on thre site. This is currently being looked at, and should be resolved shortly.

With just 1 week left here is the current top ten and who is currently eligible to win a prize.

1 Stewart Lennox (30 AB, 42780)
2 Kim Summers (21 AB, 20290)
3 Graham Mather (16 AB, 19800)
4 Vaughan Davies (10 AB, 10600)
5 Michael Ward (8 AB, 4170)
6 Karen Freedman (3 AB, 4260)
7 Paul Townsend (3 AB, 1910)
8 Robin Timms (2 AB, 5290)
9 Michael Hallows (2 AB, 380)
10 Jacky Vaz (0 AB, 170)

Stewart is on course to win the top prize, but second prize is likely to go to Vaughan Davies, as both Kim and Graham have won in the last 4 competitions. The highest brand new winner would be Karen Freedman, though Paul and Robin are very close. Will this change next week? Stay tuned to find out.