The gang violence of the weekend makes it more important than ever to celebrate Bermuda?s young achievers, Education Minister Terry Lister told an awards ceremony on Wednesday.

He told students who have picked up scholarships and grants to help further their education that the Government was forced to give them money because of their ?brilliance?.

Mr. Lister was addressing an awards ceremony at the new Berkeley Institute for this year?s eight Bermuda Scholars, six Teacher Training Award recipients, nine Mature Student Awards recipients and 40 first-time receivers of further education awards, student loans and grants to pay for university fees in the UK.

Referring to the murder of teenager Jason Lightbourne at the weekend and a machete attack which left a 19-year-old in a critical condition, Mr. Lister said: ?There is no question that what happened on this weekend will mar us for a long time and we won?t forget it easily.

?That?s not what we want to see in Bermuda. But at the same time each of us here tonight has the opportunity to celebrate these young people and I?m dead serious about that. Everybody here represents the very, very best.

?We don?t just want these people to be stars here in Bermuda. We are quite happy to see them be stars on the world stage.

?To us here at the Ministry it?s a wonderful feeling to know that what we are doing here tonight is helping to shape lives, it?s helping to create opportunity.?

The evening also heard from Rosemary Tyrrell, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education. She told the award winners: ?You are all here this afternoon because you have been given something extra and because you have been given something extra much is required of you in return.

?It?s not about the money, it?s about the service. It?s about what you can give back.?

Two former Bermuda Scholars spoke of what the award had meant for them. A winner from last year, Tiara Carlington, who is studying pre-med biology at the University of Tampa and plans to study medicine in the UK, said: ?Winning this scholarship means the Government has confidence in my ability and therefore provides me with the opportunity to pursue my goals.?

School psychologist Dr. Shay-Coy Bridgewater, a 2000 recipient of the award, said: ?To be a Bermuda Scholar means you are among the best and brightest of our Island?s young people. Bermuda has invested in you and it?s therefore up to you to make sure that the Island gets a good return on its investment.?

Among the Bermuda Scholars was Mystere Gibbons, 18, of Warwick, who came to Bermuda from Cameroon as a French-speaking teenager and learned English in six months.

John Burchall, one of the Mature Student Award recipients, told the audience he was about to embark on his fourth career change. Mr Burchall, 36, of Hamilton Parish, was a reporter, then worked in insurance brokering before becoming a Government public affairs officer. He is now heading to Washington to study divinity. ?It?s not a career, it?s a calling,? he said.