This morning I arrived at my desk to find an airmail letter containing a Christmas Short Story entry. The entry had been sent all the way from Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. The writer, David Morris, said he regularly reads The Royal Gazette online, and enjoyed reading some of the winning Christmas Short Story entries every year.Unfortunately, the entry, not only arrived more than a week after the closing date for the contest, the writer was also ineligible because the contest is only open to Bermudians and Bermuda residents. It was an issue The Royal Gazette never had to worry about until calls for entries started going online. Now the world is beating down the door to enter our competition. For once, Bermudian writers have the upper hand, and we're not the ones scrambling around for the foreign stamps for return envelopes or international reply coupons required to enter writing contests overseas.My initial response was, ‘Geez Louise, you're from a big country like that and you have to enter our little competition. Can't you find your own?' But google “Christmas Short Story Contest” and The Royal Gazette contest is the first contest that appears in the line-up. It's no wonder we are getting entries from Rwanda, England, Minnesota and Australia, among other places.I would also hazard a guess that we are one of the longest running Christmas Short Story competitions, although no one seems to know for sure exactly how old we are. We know it has been running for several decades because we have a lady in her 70s who has been entering since she was a little girl. One imagines that having a competition focusing on Christmas might easily fall out of fashion in today's politically correct world of “happy holidays” and “season's greetings”.This year we had about 160 entries, although it sometimes felt more like 250 when we were reading them. Entries were read by myself, Nadia Arandjelovic and Jennifer Hind. (Thank you so much!) Ms Hind judged the entries for the 18 and Under category. Ms Arandjelovic read many of the 13 and Under category entries. We had large numbers of entries from the Bermuda High School for Girls in the 13 and Under category. First and second place winners in the 13 and Under category were BHS students Lillian Griffiths and Emily Watson. Our third place winner in this category was a West End Primary student, Ezra Joel. They all produced wonderfully written, imagined and researched stories. We also had a large number of entries from Mount St Agnes Academy, and they also produced 18 and Under second and third place winners, Leanne Moniz and Jasmine Dawson. Our first place winner in the 18 and Under category was Jazmyne Saltus, of Berkeley Institute. Well done to all our winners!People often ask, what is the secret to winning the contest. My answer: entering.