The Corporation of Hamilton says five bidders are vying for the right to build a hotel on the Par-la-Ville car park site.

A brief press release issued by the Corporation yesterday said meetings will be held with all five developers to discuss the proposals further although there was no word on when a decision will be made.

Corporation Secretary Kelly Miller said: "The Corporation was greatly encouraged by the interest shown in the tenders and very much looks forward to proceeding with this exciting project in 2005."

Regent hotel developers the Carlson Group had hoped to build a $110 million, five-star hotel and office block but the deal was rejected earlier this year, although the group can re-bid.

Premier Alex Scott will be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of a meeting of Caribbean statisticians today at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel.

More than 40 Chief Statisticians and representatives from international agencies are attending the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCS) meeting, which ends on Wednesday.

The agenda includes reports on Collaboration with UNICEF in Guyana on the Child Protection and Monitoring Database; progress on the Multi-donor Initiative to Support Collection of Social Data for Poverty Assessment and Reduction in the Caribbean and Issues and Initiatives on the Collection, Analysis and Dissemination of Information on Poverty and Household Budget Surveys.

Seven finalists have been named in the Eighth Annual Tom Pettit Thanksgiving Essay Competition ? with the winner to be named at an awards ceremony hosted by Premier Alex Scott on Thursday.

A $1,000 prize will be presented to the author of the best essay, with cheques for $500 being awarded to the six other finalists.

The competition was begun in 1997 by Bermuda resident Patricia Pettit in memory of her husband, award-winning NBC journalist Tom Pettit.

The finalists are: Chan Del Valle, Emily Dunne and Erin Marini of Bermuda High School for Girls, Stephanie Williams of CedarBridge Academy, Christian Stevens of The Learning Express Academy and Krista Dyer and Meishka Zuill of Saltus Grammar School.