Bank of Ireland has launched a new competition, the ‘Money Smarts Challenge’, which will give secondary school students across the island of Ireland the chance to win €25,000 for their school.
Each regional final is an interactive one-day event to help students learn financial skills and has been designed in conjunction with business studies teachers and finance experts.
Teams of four students will spend the first part of the day learning about the core elements of financial wellbeing like spending, saving, earning, credit and debt.
The second part of the day will put their new skills to the test in a quiz with eight rounds of money-related questions and conundrums.
Two schools with the highest score from each regional final will compete in the Grand Final on 2 April 2020 in Dublin’s Citywest Convention Centre.
Along with the top prize of €25,000 there is a second place prize of €5,000, a third place prize of €3,000 and a fourth place prize of €2,000.
Gail Toal, who works in Consumer Banking NI within Bank of Ireland UK is encouraging as many schools from Northern Ireland as possible to take part. She added: “It’s so important that we enable young people to make informed decisions and take charge of their finances.
“We know it’s not always easy to get teenagers engaged about money management and financial literacy but this new inter-schools competition puts good financial habits firmly on their radar in a fun but informative way, as well as giving them the chance to win a fantastic prize of €25,000 for their school.”
Each school can put forward up to three teams of four students for one of the eighteen regional finals hosted by James Patrice, one of Ireland's top social media stars, which will take place between November 2019 and February 2020.
Principals and teachers can find out more about the competition and register to take part by visiting boi.com/moneysmarts. Early registration is advised as places are limited.
