AHOSKIE – Are you a fan of professional football? Do you enjoy having a little extra spending money? If your answer was yes to both questions, then the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald’s Football Contest is right up your alley.

For the third straight year, the R-C News-Herald has become &uot;teammates&uot; with 11 area businesses to bring back the popular Football Contest.

Last year, well over 2,000 total entries were received during the course of the contest. This year’s rules are much the same as $50 will be paid to each week’s winner while the Grand Prize winner – selected from all entries – will receive a $250 cash prize to help one lucky contestant throw a Super Bowl bash.

The contest officially opens today (Tuesday). See all this coming weekend’s NFL and NCAA match-ups as well as the official rules on Page 7A.

Set for a 17-week run, the R-C News-Herald Football Contest will feature games from the NFL’s regular season. Those match-ups are placed within the text of each of the 12 advertisers. Within the official entry blank, which will be published each Tuesday, are the names of each advertiser from where contestants will place their choices for the winners of the games. Contestants will indicate the team they think will win by placing it opposite the corresponding advertiser’s name in the entry blank.

R-C area businesses teaming with the News-Herald to sponsor this year’s Football Contest are: Furniture Galleries, The Athlete’s Foot, Pizza Inn of Ahoskie, Dixon’s Cleaners, Piggly Wiggly, Jernigan Oil, Quick Lane, H&N Mobile Home Supply, Hall Auto Parts of Murfreesboro, Movie Time and Allstate Insurance.

The entrant with the most winning choices each week will be awarded with $50. In event of a tie, one game will be featured each week as a tiebreaker. Entrants will be asked to predict the combined final score in this featured game.

Original entries (no photocopies of the entry blank will be accepted) are due in the main office of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald (located at the corner of Main Street and Catherine Creek Road in Ahoskie) no later than 5 p.m. on each Friday prior to the weekend’s games. For those choosing to mail their entries (R-C News-Herald Football Contest, PO Box 1325, Ahoskie, NC, 27910), a 5 p.m. Friday postmark is required.

No purchase is necessary. Official game pieces will be available at the Ahoskie office of the R-C News-Herald.

The weekly winner will be announced in each Tuesday edition of the R-C News-Herald. That winner will be instructed to pick-up their earnings at one of the participating merchants. As mentioned earlier, all entries are eligible for the $250 grand prize. That winner will be announced during a special drawing one week prior to the Super Bowl. The grand prize winner must agree to use their name and photograph in a promotional advertisement if the R-C News-Herald so desires.

The contest is open to all except employees of Roanoke-Chowan Publications, LLC and their immediate families.