COEUR d'ALENE - The 26th annual contest to find great writers in our community has begun at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.

The Writers Competition is for fiction and nonfiction prose - no poetry please - with a limit of 2,000 words. Entry forms, rules and a guide to creating an entry are available by visiting the library, by email request to dtownsend@cdalibrary.org, or by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Writers Competition, Coeur d'Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave., Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814-4012.

The deadline for entries is March 31. Each competitor may submit up to two entries in whatever combination of fiction and/or nonfiction they choose.

Entries will be judged in age groups 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-18, and 19-plus by professional writers, editors, and educators. Winning entries will receive cash awards in each category and age group, $100 for first, $50 for second, and $25 for third. Professionally bound volumes containing all entries in the competition will be placed in the library collection.

Information: David Townsend, communications coordinator, (208) 769-2315 Ext. 426 or dtownsend@cdalibrary.org.