We Americans tend to think we invented everything that is good and tasty, including pies. We like to say, "As American as apple pie." But alas, we can't lay claim to those round mounds of goodness. Give credit to the Brits, whose meat pies were the early prototypes. It took Yankee ingenuity to take what the English started and make it better. And perhaps no other day -- Thanksgiving -- kicks off the long pie season.

The Durham News is celebrating the arrival of pie season with a contest to find THE pie. The one with the flakiest crust and most mouthwatering innards. We've lined up three esteemed judges -- Al Carson of Oxford Public Ledger, Michael Reese of 103.9 FM and Marissa Rabineau of Sugar Plum bakery -- to determine who has the best one in the Bull City.

It's not too late to rummage through your recipes to be crowned Durham's best pie maker. All you have to do is bring your tasty treat to our office between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Tuesday. We're upstairs over Fowler's on Duke and Main streets.

If we choose your pie, you'll get $50; the two runners-up will get $25.

Questions? Call Sheri-Shuler Farmer at 956-2411. Now go roll some dough to win some dough.