But as Mairi Mallon reports, the best ones don't have to cost a fortune.

It can take tens of thousands of dollars for large conglomerates to put out the glossy annual reports they produce every year to promote their companies.

The total cost of artwork, graphics, layout and printing can take the price of producing a coherent and well-presented document through the roof.

But one Bermudian institution has proved that a quality document can be done in-house and on a shoe-string -- so long as you have a dedicated team behind you.

The Bermuda Biological Station for Research has just taken one of the top prizes in a local competition for annual reports for its 1998 report `From Mind to Matter'.

And while they will not disclose just how little they spent on the project, the woman behind the report, public relations officer Kathleen Frith, says that there was no way they could pour cash into such a scheme.

"We had a very small budget for this,'' said Miss Frith. "To be honest we don't have a huge budget for things like this, and we had to do a lot with a little.'' In fact most of the employees at the station can say they had a hand in producing the report.

"Almost everyone did something. Whether it was proof reading, doing the graphs or simply inputting the data.

"It was definitely a lot of work. When you don't have the money you need to put a lot of dynamism into your work.'' Miss Frith, who has created the reports for the last four years for the company, spent several months working on the document - writing, making graphs, compiling figures and collecting pictures.

Archives were gone through to get interesting images and a time line was created to take the reader from 1903 to the present day.

Miss Frith also had to take technical scientific documents and turn them into a language which could be understood by the average reader, as the report is read not only by other scientist, but supporters of the charitable trust.

Over 5,000 were printed and about 2,500 were sent out to addresses both on the Island and abroad.

"It is great seeing a project through from the beginning to end like this.

"You have a great sense of achievement, and you know that all your colleagues have helped to make the report the best it can be.'' The Bermuda Biological Station won the first prize in non-profit category of the Annual Report Awards.

The awards are given by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in Canada (Bermuda Branch) for "recognising the brightest and best financial models in Bermuda'' and "strengthening annual reporting in Bermuda''.

Bermuda Hospitals Board and Bermuda International Business Association came in as joint runners up.

In the International Category, Partner Re scooped first prize and it was the second year the company has won.

In the same category Commercial Risk Reinurance Company Ltd, ACE Ltd, EXEL Ltd and Stockton Re came in as runners up.

In the local category BELCO took the prize for the fourth time.

In second place was the Bermuda Monetary Authority and in third BF&M.

Good report card: Kathleen Frith from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research with her award-winning annual report. Miss Frith managed to produce and exceptional report with a minuscule budget.