Launch of the second Generation €uro Students’ Award

The second Generation €uro Students’ Award – a competition for secondary school students resident in the euro area – was launched on 1 November 2012 as a joint initiative by the European Central Bank (ECB) and 11 national central banks of the euro area (Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique, Deutsche Bundesbank, Banco de España, Central Bank of Ireland, Banca d’Italia, De Nederlandsche Bank, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Banco de Portugal, Banka Slovenije, Národná banka Slovenska and Suomen Pankki/Finlands Bank). It will cover the academic year 2012-13. The participating national central banks are organising the competition at the national level, while the ECB is organising the competition for international and European schools.

Once again, the competition will consist of three rounds. The first round, the online quiz, will be open until 30 November 2012. In the second round, the successful teams will be invited to submit an essay on the March 2013 interest rate decision of the ECB’s Governing Council in the course of February 2013. The five best teams per country as well as the five best teams from the international and European Schools that then reach the third and final round will be asked to give a presentation on the April 2013 interest rate decision. The competition will close with the European award event, a prize giving ceremony that will be held at the ECB on 17 and 18 April 2013 in Frankfurt am Main.

The first Generation €uro Students’ Award came to an end on 20 June 2012. It was a huge success, with the students who had taken part describing the competition as highly informative, motivating and beneficial to their studies. The students’ teachers, who played a key role in guiding the teams through each competition round, also found it a useful and practical exercise that enabled them not only to expand their knowledge of macroeconomics, but also to develop a wide range of technical skills.

Teams are invited to register for the second Generation €uro Students’ Award at www.generationeuro.eu. Further information on the competition, including last year’s results and events, can be found on that website or requested from generationeuro@ecb.europa.eu.