The current limerick contest for The Pilot has a deadline of July 31, with results appearing Wednesday, Aug. 26. The leading line: "When brash telemarketers call..." Do you become psychotic or burst into tears?

Pilot columnist Joe Piper offers an example:

When brash telemarketers call

I inform them they're breaking the law.

And if they insist

I tell them to kiss

A place that is south of my jaw.

E-mail your verses to joelimericks@embarqmail.com. Or mail them to Limericks, The Pilot, P.O. Box 58, Southern Pines, NC 28388.

Katrin Honored

The North Carolina Poetry Society recently honored winners of its 2009 Adult and Student Contests in a day-long celebration held at Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines. Southern Pines poet, Bob Katrin, was a finalist for the Poet Laureate Award.

The Annual NCPS Poetry Contests consisted of nine categories for adults and five categories for students from third grade through undergraduate with all categories being judged by acclaimed, out-of-state poets.

The Poet Laureate Award for adults featured a single prize of $100, with all other categories granting cash prizes varying from $50 to $10 for first, second, and third place winners. First, second, third place and honorable mention winners of every category received an award certificate and complimentary copy of Pinesong Awards 2009, the NCPS anthology of award-winning poems. First prize winners in the student categories also received an engraved trophy.

This year's winners, hailing from South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and more than 30 different towns and cities across North Carolina, were invited to read their winning poems during the Awards Day celebration at Weymouth Center in May. Details about the annual contests, an assortment of contest-winning poems, and more information about the North Carolina Poetry Society in general can be found at the Society's Web site, www.NCPoetrySociety.org.

New Book

PublishAmerica announces the publication of "Eliza and the Analogies of Burnshire," by Vicki Sterling Hasty of Raeford, a sixth-grade language arts teacher.

Eliza Dennison is a whiz when it comes to solving analogies. During the summer, she was told by her mother that she would be going off to Camp Camden for three weeks. Little does she know that Jeanine Dover, a bully at school, will be there as well. Also, she will be joined by friends, Jillian and Ramond. Together they will encounter the evil deeds of King and Queen Burnshire, in the Land of Burnshire. Liza's ability to solve analogies will be put to the test as she helps her newfound animal friends fight for their land.