students more involved in the Month.

The competition was divided into three parts: An essay competition on the Education Month themes of literacy and numeracy; a photojournalism competition; and design an advertisement competition.

The idea of the competitions was to encourage Bermuda's students to use their creativity in different ways and to combine different skills.

Photojournalism means not merely taking a snapshot, but capturing an image which has meaning to a great many people.

Designing an advertisement means combing images and words in a confined space to send a message. The best of the entries, which are on Pages 8, 9 and 16, do just that.

Writing about literacy and numeracy means thinking about how language and the use of words affect our daily lives; writing about numeracy means thinking about how numbers make a difference. These are profound questions -- many of the essays on these pages show a precocious understanding by our young people of how language and numbers enable us to live.

This supplement was hatched in February and the competitions which were launched have had to compete with all the other essay competitions, art shows and competitions and the many other activities which Bermuda's students are continuously being invited to enter. It is mind-boggling that they have time to study as well! In the circumstances, we were very pleased with the response to the competitions, although there is always room for improvement and we would encourage more students to enter next year! This supplement would not have been possible without the support of Education Minister Milton Scott, Permanent Secretary Michele Khaldun and Assistant to Permanent Secretary Lucy Welch. At The Royal Gazette , Newspapers in Education coordinator Jennifer Ingham and her supervisor delMonte Davis were key, as were advertising manager Gary Ritchie, production manager Lloyd Martin and supplements editor Beverley Causey-Smith. Gail Santucci -- a former school art teacher -- designed the cover. Tamell Simons took the photos of the winning entrants.

Shaw-Nae Lowe coordinated the advertising competition, which was judged by Peter Hebberd, an executive at advertising agency AAC. We are very grateful to him for his help and to advertisers who invited the students to enter the competition; we think they will be thrilled with the results, some of which are very close to professional quality.

The photography competition was judged by Royal Gazette deputy chief photographer David Skinner and the essays by Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill.

The winning students in the competition also won for their schools, as The Royal Gazette contributed cash prizes to the schools on behalf of the winners.

The biggest thank you goes to the teachers who encourage their students to enter and to the students who entered. For those of you who won, congratulations, and for those who were not successful this year, we hope you will try again! See you next year. ---- Bill Zuill, Editor The essay winners. Back row left to right: Sarah West, Emily Rowe, Cory Brangman, Akilah Beckles. Front row: Nicholas Barton, Samantha Blakemore, Christopher West. The winning essays start on Page 3 and continue throughout the supplement.

EDUCATION MONTH ED