Teens studying French in Bermuda have a chance to write and talk their way to a great summer holiday.

As winners of the Alliance Francaise des Bermudes annual essay contest, up to six local teens will enjoy a two-week camping holiday in Quebec's Laurentian Mountains.

The annual contest gives students a chance to win return airfare to Montreal and two weeks at Ekocamp, an international, co-educational youth camp that specialises in language learning. Along with swimming, sailing, canoeing, hiking and the other activities one would expect at a beautiful lakeside setting in the northern woods, camp participants also receive 15 hours a week of formal spoken and written French language training in small group classes. They will also visit the beautiful and historic city of Quebec.

Ekocamp, near St-Jovite, strives to make language learning a pleasant experience and to encourage young people to immerse themselves in the language they are learning. Both French and English are taught and spoken.

About 60 per cent of those attending Ekocamp are French-speaking young people from Quebec, of whom many are there to improve their English. The others are from Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States and the other provinces of Canada. Last year's winners from Bermuda were particularly pleased to be able to meet people from diverse lands and cultures around the world.

Contest entrants must be between the ages of 14 and 16 years as of July 1, 2003, be educated in Bermuda and have a current, valid passport (any nationality). Parental permission is required to participate in the contest.

Application forms are available from French teachers at high schools that teach the language and are also available at Waterville, the Pomander Road offices of the Bermuda National Trust.

Deadline for entries is this coming Monday and the finalists will be invited to participate in a 10-minute interview in French on Sunday, March 16.

The Alliance Francaise camp programme is made possible through a grant from the Christian Human Foundation.

A Bermuda registered charity, Alliance Francaise des Bermudes was established more than 20 years ago to promote the French language and culture. It has a full schedule of lectures, films, concerts and social activities where members and friends can speak and hear French and experience aspects of the culture.