The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ) has been awarded first prize by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for its North Rock Exhibit.

"We are so thrilled, because it's a very prestigious award,'' says BAMZ education coordinator, Mary Winchell. "The Munson Aquatic Conservation Exhibitry Award has given us a $25,000 grant which we have decided to put toward our Education Officer Endowment Fund.'' Bermuda beat off six other contenders to walk off with the top prize, designed to recognise excellence in aquatic exhibits that incorporate conservation education within design and presentation.

As BAMZ was unable to send a staff member to the event that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ed Bronikowski was asked to accept the award on the Aquarium's behalf. "He was the designer of the exhibit and had worked enormously hard and with great creativity, so it seemed very appropriate for him to pick up the prize for us,'' explains Mrs. Winchell.

The North Rock Exhibit, named for Bermuda's best known marine landmark situated about nine miles off Bermuda's coast, is the largest project undertaken to date at the Aquarium. Since its opening in April, 1996, the huge North Rock tank has proved to be extremely popular with residents and visitors alike -- even the tank-cleaning process has been turned into a fascinating audio-visual show, with volunteer divers conducting question and answer sessions with fascinated onlookers, while the tank scrubbing takes place amid shoals of darting, colourful fish.

The exhibit, which was designed to promote a personal bond between the visitor and the frail reef environment and therefore encourage the cause of conservation, presents a dramatic vista of a `micro-scale' Bermuda reef, thriving with marine life and the wide variety of fish that live there.

"We also had to submit a written piece and photographs of some of the activities that go on around the tank,'' explains Mrs. Winchell. "We also made a video with students from Francis Patton School that showed teaching sessions about Bermuda's coral reef. We also filmed one of our volunteer divers, Jens Hansen. We tied all of that in with our bio-diversity programme which started as an offshoot of the North Rock project. And we are very proud of the graphics that surround the tank.'' The BAMZ Education Officer Endowment Fund, set up to ensure that the education scheme could be staffed in perpetuity, needed $1.25 million, says Mrs.

Winchell, whose present position is sponsored in part by the Department of Education. "We are very excited, because the $25,000 prize means that we have more or less attained our goal. We would like to thank all the volunteers whose hard work enabled us to win this very prestigious prize.''