After careful deliberation, and a vote, we landed on Josiah Munsey as our lucky winner. He'll be joining us at E3, with the flight, hotel, local transport and meals, on us. He'll also be helping out by posting some stores from the show floor thanks to his credentials as press.

Thanks again to our contest sponsors: Eidos Interactive and Batman Arkham Asylum, coming this summer.

Since we expect you to write, and write under pressure, at E3, we're going to need a little proof that you can handle the pressure.

I'm going to provide all 12 of you with a writing assignment and you'll have until midnight tonight, that's in roughly two hours, to email me your story. Kotaku Tower will then read over your submissions and decide on a winner. We will consider writing ability, timeliness, fact checking and voice to determine the winner.

Here's the assignment:

Write a 200 to 300 word story about whether or not E3 should be open to the public. Your story can be opinion, but should include some facts and background.

So here's the next step:

For the dozen finalists, we want to make sure you're able to handle assignments and get the job done. So check back tonight at 10 p.m. Kotaku time for your first and final writing test. And be ready to work.

Using Random.org, we selected a dozen finalists out of those who answered our questions correctly.

The finalists, listed below, will have to turn in a story to us for final judging so we can determine which of you should be joining us at E3 for a little coverage... and fun.

Your Finalists
Francis A.
Ryan H.
Kevin I.
Mike S.
Mark D.
Joe M.
Sean P.
Josiah M.
Garth H.
Scott B.
Patrick M.
Sam B.

I've emailed all of the finalists, replying to the email they sent in to enter the contest. We've already heard back from eight of the 12, confirming that they meet the requirements for the contest. If we don't hear back from the other four by the end of today I'll draw four more. So, you better check your email if you think you're one of the winners.

Tomorrow we'll announce what exactly the finalists have to write up for their entry.

The full details can be found here. Get to it!

The winner of our Cover E3 with Kotaku contest is going to have to have the writing chops to sift through the seething turmoil of gaming and come out alive and with something to post on Kotaku. Lots of somethings in fact.

So we've crafted a little two-step audition for our readers. The first step is meant to test your reporting skills. The second step is meant to test your writing.

This is what we'd like you to do:

Dig through the site and find the headline for the first posts written on Kotaku by myself, Stephen Totilo, Mike McWhertor and Brian Ashcraft. (There are two possible answers for McWhertor, both acceptable)

Email the list of headlines to KotakuContest[AT]gmail[DOT] com with the subject line E3, by Monday, May 18 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time.

We will select a dozen finalists randomly from those who turn in the correct answers by our deadline. Step two, which we will explain next week, will involve turning in writing samples which the Kotaku staff will judge to select a winner.

The winner will receive paid travel from within the U.S. or Canada to LA, meal vouchers, hotel, and transportation to and from the hotel and to and from the convention center, all on Eidos Interactive and Batman Arkham Asylum's dime. They will also receive a press pass for E3 and plenty o assignments from me to cover stuff therein.

Entrants need to be 21 or older and prepared to travel on very short notice. Be there or be square.

Full contest rules here.