Essentially yes, details of the contest will come next week. I will likely have you guys provide a MIDI or MP3 for the judging. Most notation software allows you to export MIDI so you should be good in that sense.
Of course! I'll be explaining all that next week.
Don't worry, I'll be pretty lenient on what you can do to the melody. If you have any major issue you can talk to me after reading the rules when the contest starts.
Next week
Er, depends on if you can apply it to the contest or not. It will make more sense once I post the instructions, trust me
I used Fruity Loops a long time ago, but I got Reason after getting to college and I like it a whole lot better. It really comes down to opinion and what's easier to use for you. Perhaps I will do tutorials of sorts after SSF2 is said and done.
If you need software to enhance your instrumentation you could probably download free trials of some software just for the contest if you wanted to.
Anyway if there are any further questions they can be PM'd to me next week after the contest begins and you've read through all the instructions.