WHEN 10-year-old Jamie Dixon saved the Earth from being blasted by Martians it seemed only fair that he win a holiday for his efforts.

But the Weymouth boy, who is a pupil at Southill Primary School in Weymouth, has had to wait for his fabulous family competition holiday because the day the Dixons were contacted to confirm their booking was September 11.

Four days later, as the world mourned thousands of dead in the New York terrorist atrocity, the Dixons agreed to switch the date of their break.

Now the family are looking forward to a spring 2002 getaway which will see Jamie, 12-year-old brother Michael and parents, Jon and Jacqui, jet off to Florida for an all expenses paid holiday of a lifetime.

The trip is all thanks to Jamie's skill in beating the bad guys to win a national CITV competition for the Butt-Ugly Martians programme.

Jamie said: "I had to decipher a code which revealed what Martian words meant together with a telephone number for me to ring so I could save the Earth from being blasted by Emperor Bog."

Jamie proved more than a match for the Martians and is now looking forward to Florida.

He says the highlight for him will be three days when he and Jacqui are special guests at the Kennedy Space Centre camp where they train astronauts.

Jamie said: "The anti-gravity chamber would be great but I am looking forward to the whole holiday. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Brother Michael is planning to sample the luxuries of swimming pool life but the brothers' mother, Jacqui, is planning a much more special water date.

She said: "It has been a lifetime ambition of mine to go swimming with dolphins and that is what I hope to do." She added that her husband Jon, a well-known Weymouth cricketer, is happy to tag along and enjoy a trip which also includes tickets to Universal Studios and a pirate adventure dinner.

The family, of Rowan Close, Southill, are paying for a week at Disney World and everyone is now looking forward to all-action American holiday special which they say will be fun from the first moment to the last.