Young Queenslanders show creativity by numbers
Posted by editor (editor) on Oct 21 2009
2009 >>

Minister for Fair Trading Peter Lawlor today announced the winners of the 2009 Buy Smart competition, which aims to promote financial literacy among school students.

Mr Lawlor praised the innovation of this year’s entries before handing out prizes to competition winners at the Queensland Museum.

“The Buy Smart competition challenges school students to create fun and innovative ways to spread important financial and consumer messages,” Mr Lawlor said.

“This year’s entries were very original and I was impressed with the imaginative use of different media to fulfil the judges’ requirements.

“The many creative and entertaining board games were complemented by the use of social networking websites such as facebook and twitter to promote the message of financial literacy.”

Mr Lawlor said 380 students from 26 schools across Queensland entered the competition this year.

“This year’s entrants have truly risen to the creative challenge set by the Buy Smart competition and learnt some important lessons along the way”, he said.

Mr Lawlor said that many young people did not understand the consequences of running up high debts.

“Credit cards and mobile phones present a financial risk to consumers who don’t know how to use them responsibly.

“It can be difficult for young people to realise that excessive spending and bad debts can lead to problems later in life and can effect applications for home or car loans.

“This competition invites students to work out the best ways of informing other young people about these issues.

“This year’s entrants have demonstrated a deep knowledge of fair trading topics and displayed an excellent grasp of financial literacy principles.”

“I hope they can take what they’ve learnt and apply it as they start to earn and spend money of their own.”

A full list of this year’s winners can be found at www.getoutthere.qld.gov.au.

Last changed: Oct 27 2009 at 9:08 AM