A good community cookbook — and they are many — gives readers the taste of its community.

From lobster rolls in Maine to marionberry cobbler in Oregon to toasted ravioli in St. Louis, the best community cookbooks showcase local specialties. The recipes are complete and well-tested and the design inviting. And the proceeds benefit a deserving charity or other nonprofit.

If that describes a book that you published in 2007 or 2008, you could win money for your organization, plus publicity that could lead to the sale of many more books. Time is running out, however: Sept. 26 is the deadline to enter the 19th annual Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards.

I had the enjoyable task of serving as a judge several years ago. Each judge scrutinized every book from an assigned region and tested recipes from the books we thought should be winners. Then we gathered, and each of us looked carefully at every book from every region. (Talk about a fun way to spend a couple of days!) Afterward, we selected the winners.

This year, the first-place winner will get a $2,500 contribution to the sponsoring charity; second place, $1,000; third place, $750; and up to six regional winners will get $500.

Complete rules and entry forms are at www.TABASCO.com.

Here are the most recent winners:

First place: The Bells are Ringing: A Call to Table, from the Mission of San Juan Capistrano Women’s Guild in California.

Second place: Mardi Gras to Mistletoe, from the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier in Louisiana.

Third place: Plantation Tours & Tastes by the Church Women of Prince George Winyah Parish in South Carolina.