In honor of National Punctuation Day (Sept. 24), the founders of the National Punctuation Day organization are sponsoring their eighth annual Punctuation Paragraph Contest. Entrants are encouraged to write a paragraph — a maximum of three sentences – using all 13 punctuation marks featured on the National Punctuation Day website. Contestants will compete for a box of "punctuation goodies," according to organizers. To enter, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by Sept. 30.

NPD is celebrated in schools and businesses throughout the world with activities, games, programs, and contests. It has inspired people to pay attention not only to their Ps and Qs but also to their commas, semicolons and ellipses.

Former newspaper reporter Jeff Rubin founded National Punctuation Day in 2004 to draw attention to the importance of proper punctuation.

“It's a day for librarians, educators, and parents – people who are interested in teaching and promoting good writing skills to their students and their children," he said. "All professions depend on good writing skills. When you're talking on the telephone, people form their opinion of you by your voice. In person, it's your appearance. With correspondence, people form their opinion of you based on your writing skills. If you can't spell and you can't string a few words together to make a literate sentence, your job advancement will be hindered."