Out of almost 300 entries into this year's Tom Pettit Thanksgiving Essay Competition for schools less than ten came from the public sector.

Despite a high number of entries from CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute in the past, students at the schools showed little enthusiasm for the 2001 contest, which can see finalists being awarded $500 and the winner being awarded $1,000, plus prizes for the schools. Out of the seven finalists this year, only one was from the public sector. Two years ago, there were three finalists from CedarBridge Academy alone.

Patricia Pettit launched the competition in 1997 in memory of her late journalist husband Tom, who had previously worked for NBC.

All students at secondary schools across the Island are invited to write no more than 500 words on Why Am I Thankful?, which was this year extended to Why Am I Thankful for Freedom, in light of the September 11 attacks.

Mrs. Pettit said she was delighted to have received almost 300 entries to the contest, but said she would have liked more students from CedarBridge and Berkeley, as well as the Seventh Day Adventist school Bermuda Institute, getting involved.

"We had just under 300 entries, but only a handful came from Berkeley, CedarBridge and Bermuda Institute - there was less than ten,'' she said.

"However, out of just those few entries, one of the Berkeley students, Tonya Symonds, was one of the finalists. Her essay was really remarkable.

"We do normally get more public school entries. I'm always disappointed when all the schools don't enter, but on the flip side of that, we still got quite a lot of entries this year and they were of such high calibre.

"I would not say I was despondent, but it would be great to have every school entering."

Mrs. Pettit said she would like to talk to each of the principals of the schools to find out the reasons why entries were low and to see if she could generate more interest next year.

She added: "I think the thing is that a lot of participation in the competition comes from English teachers assigning it as an assignment in the classroom.

"Some of the children write the essays out of their own volition, but some do it as class work. My feeling is that we run the competition and we hope that people will be inspired to enter.

"We were all thrilled with the calibre and I'm very grateful to the judges. They took their responsibility very seriously. It was clear that every judge had read every single entry.''

Both principals at Cedarbridge and Berkeley were not available for comment, but teachers suggested the reason entries from public schools was low was simply because they could not enter every competition that came along.

Education and Development Minister Paula Cox was one of the judges, along with Royal Gazette editor Bill Zuill and Deputy Editor of the Bermuda Sun Robert Amesse.

Ms Cox last night congratulated students from both the public and private sectors who had entered the competition and said entries were excellent.

She added: "One of the semi-finalists was from a public school, and given that the number of entries from the public schools was less in number than those from the private schools, this is a more than credible showing."

But she said the private schools do not always win competitions.

She added: "Just recently, Keishon Ming became Bermuda's finalist in the Caribbean Conde Nast Traveller Essay Contest with an essay he wrote while he was at Paget Primary School."

Editor of The Royal Gazette, Mr. Zuill said: "I judge several essay competitions every year and always welcome as many entries as possible.

"There are many first class students in Government schools and it is a shame if they are deprived of the chance to compete for the very generous prizes offered by the Thanksgiving essay competition. In addition, this competition gives students the chance to think quite widely about important issues and is a valuable educational experience.

"I would urge Government schools to enter next year. It is worth noting that there is no risk of bias on the parts of the judges because the essays are identified only by number and there is no reference to the school or identity of the child on the entries given to the judges."