a $1,000 prize.

Employees of H.A. & E. Smith Ltd. have teamed up to compete in the quest for the world's most sensational roach art in a contest to be held in New York this summer.

Miss Moira Jean Thompson of Smith's got the idea to enter the contest, sponsored locally by Pied Piper Pest Control Co., after she found several cockroaches in her home last year.

"I thought I could pull something good out of something bad and entered one on a surf board,'' she said.

"It got an honourable mention or something and this year I wanted something really outstanding. I thought, `Let's do a golf course'.'' The sixth annual contest requires that all roaches submitted be of the American cockroach species, Periplaneta americana, commonly called the palmetto bug.

Only one entry per household of the reddish brown coloured roach, is permitted when entering the category of world's largest roach, however Miss Thompson's category allows multiple entries.

Contestants are asked to dress up a roach or build a scene around a group of roaches. The entries must be packaged with styrofoam, cotton or other light stuffing in a corrugated box.

Miss Thompson said while she came up with the idea for the golf course, the credit for the display must go to Mr. William Collieson.

"He's really good,'' she said. "He can work with just about anything.'' "I got the others to do all the dirty work for me. They all knew about my entry last year and began calling me `La Cockroacha','' she said. "I said if you all help me collect them we can all split the profit.

"They brought in roaches in bottles and packages that they found dead in their homes and ones they had killed by spraying. We collected about five and only two of them lasted.

"The two we used stood up very well. It just depends on how they were killed or how they died. It is possible to preserve them with alcohol but we didn't.'' The roach will be sent to Texas for initial judging and if selected as a finalist, will be transported to New York for the August 5 contest. PHOTO TEE TIME! -- Miss Moira Jean Thompson looks at the entry she and fellow employees at H. A. & E. Smith Ltd. will be sending to the sixth annual competition for sensational roach art, sponsored locally by Pied Piper Pest Control Co. The idea was Miss Thompson's but the entry was designed by Mr. William Collieson.