Online Halloween photo contest still taking entries

There's a cat dressed up as a frog. A dog dressed up as a cat. Oh, and let's not forget the offended-looking Yorkshire Terrier in the hotdog costume.

Semissourian.com is hosting its first Halloween photo contest, featuring categories for pet costumes, children's costumes, adult costumes and pumpkin carving. Readers can submit their favorite spooky photo by logging on to semissourian.upickem.net/halloween/submissions.asp. You can also vote on your favorite photographs there. The photos with the most votes will be featured as semifinalists in Sunday's Southeast Missourian, with finalist voting running through Nov. 6.

According to Southeast Missourian advertising director Adam Burnham, prizes awarded in each category include a gift certificate from Barnes & Noble (adult category), Petco (pet category) and Cape West Cine (pumpkin category), and a $100 savings bond from Bank of Missouri (children's category). Those businesses are co-sponsoring the contest.

"The Halloween photo contest is the first of many such contests we will be doing on semissourian.com. Allowing the community to interact by submitting photos of family and friends is an important aspect of our Web site," Burnham said. "And it is a lot of fun to look at all of the photos."

Enter your photos and vote on the semifinalists from now until 3 p.m. Friday. The top 10 photos with the most votes in each of the four categories will be featured in Sunday's Southeast Missourian, with grand-prize photos featured in the Nov. 8 issue of SE Live. For complete rules, log on to semissourian.com.