The team from Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu won the Finnish final of the Generation €uro Students' Award. The other finalists in the tight competition were Lahden yhteiskoulun lukio and Ålands lyceum. The final took place at the Bank of Finland Museum on 2 April 2019. The award-winning team was selected by a jury composed of Bank of Finland experts.
The winning team has been awarded a trip to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The team members were Kaius Kumpulainen, Otto Muurinen, Santeri Vakkilainen and Oliver Watson. The team was tutored by its teacher member Harri Korpisaari. The two other teams that qualified for the finals were awarded book gift vouchers.
”The Bank of Finland considers it important to maintain an active dialogue with members of the public and society. Our aim is to promote young people’s economic competence on many levels. This competition provides students with an opportunity to learn how to assess the impact of monetary policy on the euro area economy and about central banking in general,” said Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn in his opening remarks at the award ceremony.
The Generation €uro Students' Award tests students' knowledge of monetary policy and in many ways resembles the day-to-day work of a central bank economist, as it involves comprehensive monitoring and analysis of economic and monetary developments and challenging one's own views and those of colleagues.
The annual competition is organised in 10 euro area countries, and is open to students aged 16–19. In the competitions, four-strong teams are tasked with submitting a proposal for an interest-rate decision of the Governing Council of the ECB and other possible monetary policy actions.
The first round of the competition consisted of a web quiz, in which 37 teams from 12 schools in Finland participated. The second round took the form of a trial analysis. The three best teams qualified for the finals.