The third round of competition for the title of "Jim Thorpe Idol" for 2009 was held last Thursday evening in the auditorium of Jim Thorpe Area High School.

It started with the announcement of the elimination of two more of the contestants from the competition, bringing the original field of 15 hopefuls down to 11 for the evening's event.The two contestants whose eliminations were announced at the start of the program were Monica Miller and Tori Gresch, both of whom were given the opportunity to perform before the start of the evening's competition.Monica sang a duet entitled "My Sister," with her mother Maria; while Tori and Raheem Greene performed the song "This is Me."With the theme for the evening being "duets," each remaining contestant also had the opportunity to perform their musical number with a friend or relative.The next two rounds of competition to narrow the field through additional eliminations will be held on this Thursday and Oct. 15 at 7 p.m., with the final competition for the title of Jim Thorpe Idol for 2009 being held on Saturday, Oct. 24.For the evening of the final competition, the field of hopefuls for that title will have been reduced to five.In addition to the title of Jim Thorpe Idol, the eventual winner will receive a trophy, a $250 cash prize, and the opportunity to perform in a 30-second television commercial produced by VIAMEDIA, a Lehigh Valley based Cable Television Advertising Agency, under the assistance of Angela Nardini and the producers at Icarus Communications in Bethlehem.The Jim Thorpe Idol commercial will be aired during a five-week run beginning on Monday, Nov. 23 until Sunday, Dec. 27, and will be seen on 11 cable network channels on Blue Ridge Communications in the Carbon County area.The theme for this upcoming Thursday evening, Oct. 8, will be "Broadway," so if you'd like to hear some live musical entertainment, be sure to stop by the Jim Thorpe Area High School auditorium at 7 p.m.