The deadline for submissions for the 22nd annual Moore County Writers' Competition, sponsored by the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, is Friday, Feb. 5.

The Writers Program wants to remind anyone 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 Ave., P.O. Box 939, Southern Pines, NC 28388 Feb. 5.

The contest committee, whose members include Malaika Albrecht, Cos Barnes, Karen Gilchrist and Cynthia Miecznikowski, will notify winners by the middle of March 2010.

The competition, underwritten by a generous grant from The Donald and Elizabeth Cooke Foundation, is open to students and residents of Moore County (N.C.), 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. Provided by the North Carolina Writers Network, this year's judges are Carol-Faye Ashcraft, fiction; Jennifer Hubbard, poetry; and John Grooms, 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 2010 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 Sunday, April 25.

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.

For more information, call (910) 690-1098 and leave a message.