If there is one thing you can count on for the holiday season, it is the Royal Gazette Christmas short story contest.

The annual contest has been going on for at least forty years, possibly longer. Some of the children in this contest are second and third generation winners. Our Second Place Under 13 winner, Phoebe Barboza entered the competition with her grandmother, Pat Barboza.

This year 115 of Bermuda's most talented writers entered their Christmas stories of holiday cheer, and anguish.

For the 2006 contest we threw out a challenge to our contest participants ? use creative problem solving instead of violence to solve story conflicts. Christmas is, after all, a time of Peace. Our writers came through with flying colours. This year we saw very little hand to hand combat between Santa and the Easter Bunny.

Another change from last year is that the majority of entries were from students under 13 years old. Adult entries were down. Grown-ups, get your thinking caps on, and start brain storming now for next year. Another difference was that several of our winners were boys. In previous years the girls have dominated the winner's circle. Well done, everyone!