Fastest texters in America face off in New York

(AP) NEW YORK - The fastest texters in the United States are facing off in the annual LG U.S. National Texting Competition.

Eleven contestants are coming to Times Square for the annual competition Wednesday afternoon. The winner gets $50,000. Competitors range from 16 to 24 years old. Last year's champion Austin Weirschke is coming back to defend his title.

The competition tests three skills: speed, accuracy and dexterity. There are three rounds to the competition: texting while blind-folded, texting with hands behind their backs and Text Blitz, where phrases are shown to the contestants for a length of time and they have to copy them as fast as they can.

The texting competition was originally launched in 2007 and is sponsored by LG Electronics.