Schools in Hawaiian Telcom's annual Hawai'i Island School Telephone Book Recycling Contest collected nearly enough old phone books to make four piles as tall as the Empire State Building.

The 19 schools collected 52,240 books, with the top five schools winning cash prizes from Hawaiian Telcom. KTA Super Stores provided $100 gift certificates to each of the top nine schools.

The top five winners were Saint Joseph Elementary School, 9,180 books; Waiakeawaena School, 7,001 books; Waiakea High School, 6,403 books; E.B. DeSilva Elementary School, 5,574 books; and Kealakehe Elementary School, 5,314 books.