The 27th 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 - maximum 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 one or 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.

Winners will be notified by phone and email and will be announced publicly at the awards ceremony at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 16, in the library Community Room.

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