It's that time of year again...

Time for the annual CHEERIOS^® NEW AUTHOR CONTEST

The Cheerios^® New Author Contest encourages aspiring authors to write and submit an original story for a book for children ages 3 to 8.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN.

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

Grand Prize:

One (1) Grand Prize of $5000 cash will be awarded. In addition to the cash prize, the Grand Prize winning story submission will be offered to Simon & Schuster, Inc. for possible future publication.

First Runner-Up Prizes
Two (2) First Runner-Up Prizes of $1000 each will be awarded. The $1000 First Runner-Up Prizes will be awarded as checks made payable to each of the two (2) First Runner-Up Prize winners.

The stories of the First Runner-Up Prize winners will appear on http://www.spoonfulsofstories.com/.

WHO CAN ENTER?

You are eligible if you are 18 years of age or older as of the date you enter and are a legal United States resident residing in one of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia during the competition.

You are not eligible to enter and will be disqualified if:

• You are a professional writer, such as a novelist, magazine, blogger or newspaper writer who writes books or articles for pay.
• You have authored any work of fiction that has been published or is about to be published in exchange for payment.
• You are a volunteer of the First Book Advisory Board or an employee of General Mills, Skybridge Marketing Group, Simon & Schuster, Inc., First Book or any of their respective parents, subsidiaries and affiliated companies, or a member of the immediate family (parent, children, siblings, spouse, regardless of where they live) or same household of such employees (whether related or not).

HOW DO I ENTER?

Online entry only.
Go to http://www.spoonfulsofstoriescontest.com/ and submit your story.
Story must be 500 words or less, submitted in readable font (e.g.Times New Roman or Arial) in the English or Spanish language.
All electronic entries must be received between 12:00 a.m. (Central Time) on March 22, 2011 and 11:59 p.m. (Central Time) on July 15, 2011. Each electronic entry should be submitted only once.
No limit on number of entries per person!

Visit http://www.spoonfulsofstoriescontest.com/rules/ for the complete list of rules.

Good luck!