Enter your property in annual paint contest

Entries for the 21st annual "Chicago's Finest Painted Ladies" competition, the "beauty contest" for homes, will be accepted through Labor Day, Sept. 3.

Homes and commercial properties within a 50-mile radius of Chicago are eligible for entry into the contest. The area will be divided into two categories and sections.

Categories are professional and nonprofessional and the sections are North, Northwest, West, Southwest, South and Northwest Indiana.

Entries are judged on how the paint and colors chosen were used to enhance the appearance of the property. Also taken into consideration by the judges is how well the colors fit the neighborhood and/or the area that surrounds the structure.

Each section and category is then judged separately.

Houses or commercial properties need not be of Victorian style. Most important is the imaginative use of color and interesting application.

Homes painted after Labor Day 2006 through Labor Day 2007 are eligible.

For information and an application, call the Chicago Paint & Coatings Association at (847) 755-9850 or write CPCA, 400 E. State Parkway, Suite 216, Schaumburg, IL 60173.

Information and applications, as well as pictures of previous winners, can be found on the CPCA Web site at www.chicagopaint.org.