break down in tears on TV is expected to report back tomorrow.

The mystery mix-up meant two schools were not given the correct preparation material for questions during Saturday night's Bermuda National Quiz Contest for Schools.

And youngsters from the Clearwater Middle School team could offer only blank looks and tears when they realised they could not answer several questions.

The 11-year-olds were so upset they did not want to re-take their seats for the second part of the show, televised live on ZBM. Parents and teachers have already complained that the children were publicly humiliated.

But Brenton Roberts, Director of Youth and Sports, immediately apologised and convened a full-scale investigation into what caused the mistake.

He told The Royal Gazette that contestants were asked around 2,000 questions on different sets of facts, circulated to schools between September and December.

But he admitted that two schools, last-placed Clearwater and third-placed Saltus, had not received all the research material.

Mr. Roberts said last night: "I still think it was a clerical error.'' Inquiry on quiz for students "All the questions are on a computer disk and once they're printed out, photocopies need to be made.

"They are then dispatched to the various schools and I believe that maybe one of the sheets was missing.'' He said the quiz contest committee would meet in emergency session tomorrow at 4 p.m. and give an official explanation for the error.

Clearwater teacher Terrylynn Weeks and a set of parents from Clearwater had already complained to Mr. Roberts that the youngsters were not given a fair chance.

She added: "We asked for an apology and Mr. Roberts told us he was mounting an investigation.

"We're obviously still waiting for the official reason but we want people to know that our children prepared very hard for the competition and never stood a fair chance.'' Parent Debra Trott, whose 11-year-old daughter competed for the losing Clearwater Middle School team, said the youngsters had been denied access to research material for up to 70 questions.

She added: "On Saturday night as I sat and listened to the first round of questions, I realised that these questions had never been given to our students prior to the competition.

"These children deserve a public apology and the general public deserves to know the truth.'' The three-hour competition -- in its 13th year -- was eventually won by children from Warwick Academy, who also took the title in 1997.

But Clearwater actually tied for third with Warwick Academy during the practice run on Thursday night.

Mount Saint Agnes finished second, Cedarbridge came fourth and Sandys Middle School were fifth.