camping vacation in Quebec's Laurentian mountains, as long as they can do it in French.

An annual contest sponsored by local cultural group, "Alliance Francaise des Bermudes,'' gives up to six students a chance to win return airfare to Montreal and two weeks at "Ekocamp'', an international youth camp which specialises in language learning.

Along with swimming, sailing and hiking in a beautiful lakeside setting in the northern woods, camp participants also receive 15 hours a week of formal spoken and written French language training in small group classes.

Ekocamp strives to make language learning a pleasure and encourages participants to immerse themselves in the language they are learning.

Entrants must be between the ages of 14 and 16 years old as of July 1, 2001, enrolled in high school in Bermuda, have a current valid passport, and must have parental permission to participate in the contest.

Application forms will be available the week of March 26 through the French teachers at all high schools in Bermuda that teach French as a second language.

They are also available at Waterville, the Pomander Road offices of the Bermuda National Trust.

The deadline for applications is Monday April 23.

Alliance Francaise des Bermudes was established more than 20 years ago to promote the French language and culture. In addition to educational programmes for Bermuda's school children, it has a full schedule of lectures, films, concerts and social activities where members and friends can speak and hear French and experience aspects of the culture.

The Alliance Francasie camp programme is made possible through a grant from the Christian Humann Foundation.