The deadline for submissions for the 19th annual Moore County Writers' Competition, sponsored by the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, is Feb. 1.

The Writers Program wants to remind those who is interested in submitting an original piece of writing for the competition that entries should be postmarked or delivered to the Weymouth Center, 555 E. Connecticut Avenue, P.O. Box 939, Southern Pines, NC 28388, by Thursday, Feb. 1. The contest committee, whose members include Cos Barnes, Katrina Denza, Karen Gilchrist, Kay Grismer, and Cynthia Sheard, will notify winners by the middle of March.

The competition, underwritten by a grant from The Donald and Elizabeth Cooke Foundation, is open to students and residents of Moore County, and grouped according to age: grades 1-4, grades 5-8, grades 9-12, and adult. Submission categories are poetry (60 lines maximum), fiction (2500 words maximum), and nonfiction (2,500 words maximum); writers may submit one manuscript in each category. Provided by the North Carolina Writers Network, this year's judges are Lisa Kline, fiction; Lou Green, poetry; and Van Garrison, nonfiction.

First-, second-, and third-place winners in each age group receive prizes of $100, $50, and $25, respectively; honorable mentions receive a certificate. The 2007 Writers' Competition booklet will include the winning manuscripts, and first-place winners will read selections from their winning entries at an awards presentation at Weymouth Center on Sunday, April 29.

Submission guidelines are available at area libraries, schools, bookstores, and coffee shops, as well as Weymouth Center and the Arts Council of Moore County, or online at www.weymouthcenter.org.

For more information, call 690-1098 and leave a message.

Limerick Contest

The deadline for the current limerick contest is drawing near -- Jan. 28. Here's the leading line: "To endure winter's raw, bitter chill..."

What humorous strategies can you think of to get through the coldest months of the year: hypnosis, extreme sudoku, rocket science correspondence course? You complete the verse.

E-mail submissions to joelimericks@earthlink.net, or mail them to Limericks, The Pilot, PO Box 58, Southern Pines, NC 28388.