Premier Alex Scott was overwhelmed yesterday by the talent of three Bermudian schoolgirls who provided the artwork for the Bermuda Government?s official 2003 Christmas card.

In fact, the Premier invited five-year old Alyiah Williams, nine-year old Sudan Furbert, and ten-year old Katherine-Lee Burchell and their parents to have lunch with him at Camden in the New Year.

?In this job that I have as Premier sometimes there are responsibilities I would like to pass on to somebody else,? he said. ?Not this one.?

Government had asked schoolchildren to draw an illustration of ?Christmas in Bermuda?, he said, in order to choose one piece of artwork for the Christmas card. However when it came down to it, the judges could not choose between the top three.

So they called in the Premier ? who said he was unable to choose the best of the three either. ?You just couldn?t do it,? he said. ?So we put all three together.?

The Premier met the three artists at a Press conference at Cabinet yesterday to present them with the finished product, in a gold frame with a golden inscription.

?You?re Alyiah?? said the Premier in amazement to the young Southampton Glebe student. ?Your work is bigger than you are!?

She was too small to see over the top of the table in the Cabinet office during the Press conference, so the Premier hoisted her up to stand on top of the table alongside her fellow artists.

?I didn?t expect you to be so small, or so cute, or so good,? he said.

He asked Ms Furbert, from Elliot Primary, why she drew the moongate she had in her picture. ?I didn?t really think about what I was going to draw, I just drew something,? she replied.

Ms Burchell, from Northlands Primary, said Christmas was about ?joy and the lights and the tree?.

?The whole spirit of Christmas, especially Christmas in Bermuda, has been caught by these young artists,? said the Premier.

The cards will be sent to the US, the UK, the Middle and Far East, he said. ?Your school names and your artwork are going to go all around the world.?