Forty students have received awards at XL Capital for their entrepreneurial achievements. In the first two weeks of July young aspiring entrepreneurs attended BizCamp that was held at Bermuda College.

The students spent 45 hours each week composing business plans for the businesses that they wanted to launch.

Education Minister, Terry Lister and Telecommunications and E-commerce minister, Michael Scott attended that awards ceremony and presented prizes.

Joe Mahoney of the Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative of Bermuda handed out certificates to the 40 students.

A teen magazine for Bermudian girls, a boutique, and a candy company won top honours at BizCamp.

?Gurl Magazine??s Allison Tucker and Tiffany Trott from Teen Trends captured the senior school awards and in the middle school week, Matthew Tavares and Chris McCarron earned an award for their company, Sweet Things, a development that is already producing hard candies.

The Ministry of Education and Development ?spearheaded? the programme alongside the Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative of Bermuda and the Bermuda Technology Education Collaborative. Corporate sponsors were the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, XL Foundation, Allied World Assurance Company and Renaissance Reinsurance.

David Lang, Bank of Bermuda Foundation spokesperson said, ?The BizCamps are a great way to give practical encouragement to future Bermudian entrepreneurs and we are happy to support them.?

The prize winners were Allison Tucker in first place for ?Gurl Magazine? a publication for Bermudian girls, Tiffany Trott first prize for Teen Trends a boutique, Chris McCarron and Matthew Tavares also in first place Sweet Things a glass candy company.

In second place were Kaurie and Courtney Daniels for ?Planet Smoothie? mixed health drink store, Genesis Edwards for Genuses virtual locator for retailers and Angela Dickinson for Musical Dimensions, a music school.

In third place was Courtney Morfitt for Zions, The Trading Card Game?, Kevin Simmons for his Front Street bakery producing cakes and pies and Micrae Smith for Surefire Security wholesale electronic security systems