of entries this year in both the adult category and the under 18 division.

No poems or essays were accepted and the stories had to concentrate on the theme of Christmas and Bermuda.

Winner of the adult category is Ms Ellen Furbert, who wrote `The Greatest Gift', a story about high-powered executive John, who barely had the time to see his family, let alone notice the beauty of the festive season.

He learns, however, about the true spirit of Christmas, realising that the greatest gift indeed is spending time with his family.

The runner-up in the adult category is Ms Lisa J. Barnes. She wrote about a Bermudian-born successful business woman, who moved to New York following four years abroad at university. Bermuda just didn't seem to fit into her plans of being an independent business woman of the nineties.

But the story brings her reluctantly home for Christmas, where she is pleasantly surprised by the Island she once saw as too small and dull.

In the under 18 division, Christie Meacham won first prize with her story about a `Sacred Mission'. Cassie was an elderly woman, who cooked for people at the Hamilton Mission.

She was difficult, grumpy and hard to get along with but something happened to her on Christmas Eve that was to change things for her and the mission forever. She became what an angel in heaven referred to as God's angel on earth.

Zoe Roberts is the runner-up in the under 18 class for her tale about a tree and its adventures as a Christmas tree. The tree was cold and lonely until it was cut down by `humans' and finally picked out by a loving family. But Christmas came and went, and the tree was worried it would once again be left to ache in the cold winds of the forest. However, the tree ended up with his long-lost companions of the forest and together the tree's body and his friends' bodies were made use of and today they sit in the warmth of the sun.

Cash prizes will be presented to the winners on Tuesday, December 12 at The Royal Gazette . And the winning stories as well as some honourable mentions will be published in our special Christmas Greetings catalogue on Saturday, December 23, 1995.