The team from Ålands lyceum won the Finnish final of the Generation €uro Students' Award. The other finalists in the tight competition were Etelä-Tapiolan lukio and Mäkelänrinteen lukio. The final took place at the Bank of Finland Museum on 28 February 2017. The award-winning team was selected by a jury composed of Bank of Finland experts and chaired by Seppo Honkapohja, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Finland.
The winning team has been awarded a trip to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The team members were Vilma Danielsson, Edvin Engman, Isak Lindén and Emil Rönnberg and the team was tutored by its teacher member Anders Casén. The two other teams that qualified for the finals were awarded book gift vouchers.
'The Generation €uro Students' Award brings economic issues to the level of everyday practice. Understanding the laws of economics and obtaining an overall picture of Finland's role in an international environment will also help students in their future studies and professional lives,' noted Erkki Liikanen, Governor of the Bank of Finland, in his opening remarks at the final.
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 11 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 Bank of Finland organises the competition in Finland with the aim of promoting young people's economic competence. The competition provides young people with an opportunity to learn how to assess the impact of monetary policy on the euro area economy and about central banking in general.
The first round of the competition consisted of a web quiz, in which 29 teams from 11 schools in Finland participated. The second round took the form of a trial analysis. The three best teams qualified for the finals.
For further information, please contact: Richard Brander, Senior Communications Officer, tel. +358 10 831 2206.