300 submissions. 64 finalists. 4 brackets. 12 weeks. 8 finalists. 20,000 votes. 1 winner. With those kind of numbers, you have to call the inaugural Untz Challenge a resounding success. So, we at TheUntz.com decided to step it up. Once again, The Untz is putting on a March Madness-style competition pitting amateur producers against one-another for a chance to win some huge prizes. We are expecting even more submissions this year, and the field of competition is going to be pretty heated, so our suggestion to all you bedroom producers is start getting your material together. More details will be announced throughout the month, and TheUntz.com will keep you up-to-date on the most important stuff: the prizes.

The Untz is once again teaming up with Novation, pioneers in the field of music technology. This year, one of our top prizes will be the Novation TWITCH, blending the roles of DJ tool and MIDI controller. Not only can the TWITCH function like a pair of virtual decks, with its revolutionary touchstrip technology, but you can cue, sequence, slice, loop, and beatmatch sections of tracks with the push of the button, something virtually impossible with today's DJ gear. The TWITCH comes programmed with Serato ITCH, and has a TRAKTOR overlay. Additionally, the gear is Ableton-ready. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

Stay tuned to TheUntz.com, as we will continue to unveil the top-shelf prizes in store for our battling producers, and reveal our timetable for the new schedule of competition. We'd like to remind you, that you cannot use previously released material for this challenge, so it is important that you start writing, producing, and composing your electronic music tracks now, so you can be ready to go when the submission period begins. Also, we will once again be using a Soundcloud DropBox for entries, so if you're not already signed up, get on it! More details coming soon...