Buying smart to pay off for students

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Kawana students, together with their peers from across Queensland, will have the chance to share in more than $11,000 in cash prizes for themselves and their schools in the 2014 Buy Smart Competition.

Member for Kawana and Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie encouraged local students to get involved in the competition which aims to raise awareness of financial and consumer issues among school students.

“Young people are entering the marketplace earlier and earlier, so it is vitally important that they do so in an educated way,” Mr Bleijie said.

“Buy Smart invites students from years 4 to 12 to submit a creative presentation to educate their peers about why it’s important to be consumer savvy.

“Think outside the box with your entries. In previous years, everything from rap songs to board games, decorated items of clothing and even a handmade doll house, have been submitted.

“Last year, more than 1,200 students from across Queensland entered and this year we are hoping for even more.

“The winning entries came from all over Queensland, with students from Cairns, Bundaberg, Lockhart River, Sarina, Kingaroy, Gympie and Brisbane all collecting cash.”

The total prize pool is over $11,000 across all three categories (school years 4-6, years 7-9, and years 10-12):
• first prize – $500 for the student, $1500 for the student’s school or organisation
• second prize – $200 for the student, $800 for the student’s school or organisation
• third prize – $150 for the student, $500 for the student’s school or organisation
• up to ten discretionary $50 highly commended student prizes across all categories.

Entries will be judged on their creativity, quality, relevance to consumer issues and ability to communicate a consumer message.

The competition closes on 12 September 2014, with winners to be announced in October.

For more information on the Buy Smart Competition 2014 visit www.qld.gov.au/buysmartcomp or call 13 QGOV (13 74 68).