Due to personal reasons, the monthly limericks column will not appear. Columnist Joe Piper hopes to be back next month with results and a new limerick first line.

Contest

The Writers' Workshop is offering a "Words of Love" contest. Entries must be postmarked before March 20.

Any writer may enter a story, poem or essay for this contest. The prizes are: $300, first; $200, second; and $100, third. Up to 10 honorable mentions will also be picked.

Send in a story, poem or essay of 3,500 words or less. Include your name, address, e-mail and title of work. The entry fee per submission is $20 (or $15 for Workshop members). Multiple entries are accepted.

Enclose legal size self-sealing SASE for critique and list of winners. Please make check or money order payable to The Writers' Workshop, and mail to: W.O.L. Contest, 387 Beaucatcher Road, Asheville, NC 28805.

Electronic submissions may be sent to writersw@gmail.com, with "WOL Contest" in the subject. The entry fee is payable online at www.twwoa.org.

Writers' Competition

The deadline for submissions for the 21st Annual Moore County Writers' Competition, sponsored by the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, is Feb. 6.

The Writers Program wants to remind anyone who is interested in submitting an original piece of writing for the competition that entries should be mailed or delivered to Weymouth Center, 555 E. Connecticut Avenue, P.O. Box 939, Southern Pines, NC 28388.

The contest committee 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 (2,500 words maximum), and nonfiction (2,500 words maximum); writers may submit one manuscript in each category.

First-, second-, and third-place winners in each age group receive prizes of $100, $50, and $25; honorable mentions receive a certificate. The 2009 Writers' Competition booklet will include the winning manuscripts, and first-place winners will read selections from their entries at an awards presentation at Weymouth on Sunday, May 3.

Submission guidelines are available at area libraries, schools, The Country Bookshop, Weymouth Center, and the Arts Council of Moore County, or online at weymouthcenter.org. or more information, call 690-1098 and leave a message.