More than $11,000 was donated to various charities by BELCO and BF&M through the winners of the 11th Annual Festival of Lights Competition.

The festival, which was started in 1996, was created to reward people who were decorating their homes for the holiday season, as well as to provide funding for local charities.

The winners and the local charities to which they chose to give their donations, $11,250 in total, were honoured with a reception at Ace Tempest Re Building yesterday [NOTE]Monday January 22[\NOTE].

The first place winners and charity recipients of the 2006 Festival of Lights were:

Individual Residents

[bul] Eastern: Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Madeiros ($1,000, St. Vincent de Paul Society)

[bul] Central: Mr. Arthur Pitman & Family ($1,000, PALS)

[bul] Western: Debbie and Donna Ball ($1,000, Big Brothers and Sisters of Bermuda)

Community Winners

[bul] Eastern: Cedar Park Community ($500, LCCA/Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association of Bermuda)

[bul] Central: Uptown Market Community, ($500, The Sunshine League)

Commercial and Retail Winners

[bul] Eastern: The Cooperation of St. George's ($1,000, Friends of St. Peter's)

[bul] Central: The Waterfront ($1,000, Knowledge Quest)

[bul] Western: Sousa's Landscape Management ($1,000, Hamilton Rotary Club)

This year's contest celebrated the first Community Winner in the Central contest area and also involved far more youngsters which pleased contest coordinators Nicole Williams Smith and Thania Redman.

John Wight, president and CEO of BF&M added: "Unique to this contest is the fact that such a broad cross-section of charities benefit from all the hard work that participants put into their fabulous displays."