Teenagers can win a camping holiday in Canada if they enter a French essay competition run by Alliance Francaise Des Bermudes.

The charity is offering up to six winners the return air fare to Montreal and two weeks at Ekocamp, an international youth camp which specialises in language learning.

Swimming, sailing, hiking are all on offer at the lakeside camp in Quebec's Laurentian mountains.

Participants will get 15 hours French training a week in small classes.

Renae Black, one of last year's winners, said: "As a result of this trip I've found lifelong friends and a real love of the French language.

And fellow student Katie Arnold said: "I truly enjoyed the camp and made friends with people from all over the world."

Around 60 percent of children at the camp are French-speaking people from Quebec, keen to improve their English. Others are from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Contestants must be aged between 14 and 16 as of July 1, 2002, enrolled in a Bermuda school and have a valid passport (any nationality). Parental permission is required to participate in the contest.

Application forms will be available after January 28 from French teachers at high schools which teach French as a second language.

They are also available at Waterville, the Pomander Road offices of the Bermuda National Trust. The contest deadline is March 1 - finalists will be invited to a ten minute interview in French on March 10.

The Alliance Francaise camp programme is possible thanks to the Christian Human Foundation.