Christmas cheer brightened a rainy evening at The Royal Gazette with the winners announced for the 2022 Stanley Ratteray Memorial Christmas Short Story Contest.

Bill Zuill, the head of digital, presented the awards to assembled writers young and adult, who charmed judges with unique Bermuda-themed Christmas stories.

Mr Zuill said the competition, which has run for about 60 years, was named in honour of the late Dr Ratteray – a “longtime director of the company that owns The Royal Gazette and a great patron and supporter of the arts in all forms, including writing”.

Dr Ratteray, who served as education minister, was a founding member of the Progressive Group, which led the Theatre Boycott in 1959 that set Bermuda on the path to racial desegregation.

“This year’s stories were wonderful and very difficult to judge,” Mr Zuill said. “We had lots and lots of entries – about 80 altogether.”

He said the winning stories would be published in the newspaper on Friday and posted online at a later date.

In the under-13 category, Evangeline Worsick took first place, with Aditi Varwandkar second and Seri Fisher third – while for under-18s, Anna Garrod came first with Annabelle Davidson the runner-up.

Gary Brangman was the winner of the adults category, with Jonathan Land Evans as runner-up and Melonie Lewis in third.