Wavell State High School Student Among the Winners of Buy Smart 2021

A student from Wavell State High School is among the winners of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Buy Smart 2021.

A total of $15,000 in prize money will be shared among this year’s winners that include students from Years 4 and above. The competition categories were divided into three: Years 4–6; Years 7–9 and Years 10–12. 

Two students from Wavell State High School did their school proud this year as Zali Love, a Year 9 student took home the third prize in her category whilst Angelica Baltazar was recognised as “Highly Commended,” also for the Years 7-9 category.

The first prize winner in each category will receive $500 for the winning entry and $2,000 for their school. Whilst the second prize winner will receive $250 and $1,000 for their school and the third prize winner will receive $150 and $500 for their school. Also awarded are ten highly commended prizes, worth $50 per entry, across all categories . 

Meanwhile, Mutdapilly State School in the Scenic Rim was awarded with the Fair Trading Commissioner’s School Champion prize of $1,500. Their cohort of Year 4, 5 and 6 students used their coding skills to make interactive games exploring refund rights and the importance of saving.

A creative, fun way of developing savvy consumer habits

Congratulating the students who participated in this year’s competition , Attorney-General, Minister Fentiman said that “making sure our young Queenslanders understand their consumer rights and can spot a scammer is so important.”

He added that last year alone, children under 18 in Australia lost almost half a million dollars to scammers with more than $100,000 from online shopping scams.

“Back in 2002, Buy Smart was started to help young Queenslanders learn about consumer issues and develop savvy consumer habits to carry with them throughout their lives,” he said.

“And with the growing demand for online shopping, Buy Smart is even more important today than it was 20 years ago.

“With more than 7,000 students participating in the program in 2021 and over 750 students submitting entries, this year saw plenty of impressive entries accepted into the competition.

“From boardgames to dioramas, music videos, Instagram posts and animations, the Buy Smart Competition had it all, but most importantly it shows us that students are excited and engaged in understanding consumer issues.” 



The OFT Buy Smart Program is an initiative launched in 2002 which has seen Fair Trading officers visiting classrooms across the state to educate students and help them become savvy consumers. However, since last year, several visits were done via streaming into classrooms due to COVID-related restrictions.

The OFT Buy Smart competition allowed students to identify a consumer issue and to make a creative presentation of what they have learned through their research. Their project should identify an important issue related to shopping or money, explain the issue to a target audience of their choice, and give their audience some hints and tips that can help them with this issue.

Ultimately, the competition aims to help the students and their audience become smarter consumers by:

  • recognising and avoiding scams;
  • improving one’s financial capability; and
  • using one’s consumer rights when needed.

The OFT Buy Smart Competition 2021 winners 

The Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Buy Smart Competition 2021 winners for each category are as follows:

Years 4 to 6

First place: Mitch Graeme, St Mary MacKillop Primary School, Birkdale. (Year 5)

Second place: Josie Dolan and Sasha Glockling, St Dympna’s Catholic Primary School, Aspley. (Year 6)

Third place: Kayden Ross, Forest Lake State School. (Year 4)

Highly commended:

  • Annabella Collins and Shayla O’Sullivan, Kurwongbah State School, Petrie. (Year 5)
  • Abigail Wilson, Alice Barr, Inara Mayes, Francesca O’Neil and Eva Wilkinson, Kedron State School. (Year 6)
  • Cooper Jayo, Mackay North State School. (Year 6)

Years 7 to 9

First place: Lindie van Tonder, Trinity College, Gladstone. (Year 9)

Second place: Ruby Kavanagh and Eliza Luhrs, Wavell State High School. (Year 9)

Third place: Zali Love, Wavell State High School. (Year 9)

Highly commended:

  • Caleb Harlick, Mitchell Salmon and Nihal Singh, Redeemer Lutheran College, Biloela. (Year 7)
  • Lauren Stallard, Loreto College Coorparoo. (Year 8)
  • Sophie Hamilton, Chloe Michell and Indya Anderson, Sheldon College. (Year 9)
  • Jack Taylor, Sunshine Coast Grammar School. (Year 8)
  • Angelica Baltazar, Wavell State High School. (Year 9)
  • Kiki Bell and Emily Ryan, Clayfield College. (Year 9)

Years 10 to 12

First place: Nidhi Kapadia, Adonia Joseph and Sahrish Nouryan, Queensland Academies Health Sciences Campus, Southport. (Year 10)

Second place: Cody Menzies, Nambour State College. (Year 10)

Third place: Braedon O’Brien, Trinity College, Gladstone (Year 10)

Highly commended:

Ewan McFadzen and Om Bhikadiya, Aspley State High School (Year 10)

Commissioner’s School Champion Prize:

Mutdapilly State School

Wavell State High School Students Among Buy Smart Competition Winners

December is arguably one of the months when consumers buy lots of stuff, but kids nowadays are getting better at buying smart. For instance, three exceptional Wavell State High School students were amongst the winners of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Buy Smart Competition  for school-age students.

The Buy Smart Competition challenges students to get creative and share what they know about shopping and money issues. The competition helps young consumers show what they know about refund rights, scams, online shopping, product labelling, and more.

Kyle Montgomery was Highly Commended for his creative work. Photo credit: Office of Fair Trading

According to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, the array of high-quality entries received for this year’s competition showcased the students’ excellent consumer knowledge as well as their artistic and technical skills.

“The Buy Smart Competition challenges students in Years 4 to 12 to choose a consumer issue, research it, then present it as an interesting creative project that can educate their chosen audience,” she said.

Hannah Viney and Lani Raghavan won second place for their informative entry. Photo credit: Office of Fair Trading

“Young people are being brought up in a digital age and are exposed to social media, online advertising and app store purchases earlier than ever before, so I’m pleased to know many of our young consumers are learning to identify consumer-related risks.”



Wavell State High Buy Smart Competition Winners

More than 6,000 students participated in Buy Smart school presentations this year and the Office of Fair Trading received entries from more than 750 students.

Photo credit: Wavell State High School/Facebook

For Wavell State High School, Kyle Montgomery got the Highly Commended award for the  Years 10–12 category.

Photo credit: Wavell State High School/Facebook

Other smart young consumers from the state high include Hannah Viney and Lani Raghavan who won second place for the Years 7–9 category.



Following is the full list of winners for Buy Smart Competition 2018:

Category Years 4–6

First: Mckenzie Kirkham – St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School (Caboolture)
Second: Matthew Mynett and Soren Zschech – Kurwongbah State School (Petrie)
Third: Skye Hetaraka and McKenzie Sanker – Boondall State School (Boondall)
Highly Commended:

  • Ella Macuga and Lucy Stone – Nundah State School (Nundah)
  • Amelia Gray and Emma Heijboer – Kurwongbah State School (Petrie)
  • Nicholas Bray Alex Wong, Jonathon Culley, and Mitchell Burchard – Faith Lutheran College (Victoria Point)

Category Years 7–9

First: Emily Baxter and Sarah Fenner – Loreto College (Coorparoo)
Second: Hannah Viney and Lani Raghavan – Wavell State High School (Wavell Heights)
Third: Zion Cordero, Sebastian Hurcum and Mack Geiger – Trinity College (Gladstone)
Highly Commended:

  • Madelize Breet and Alison Wu – Sheldon College (Sheldon)
  • Lily Ji and Tiana Tong – St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School (Corinda)
  • Caitlin Turner – Clayfield College (Clayfield)
  • Amelia Wakefield – Redlands College (Wellington Point)
  • Drishti – Toolooa State High School (Gladstone Central)
  • Angela Greer – James Nash State High School (Gympie)

Category Years 10–12

First: Paris Teevan, Taya Kesby and Eloise O’Donnell – St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School (Corinda)
Second: Elisa Tamai, Gabrielle Christou, and Rose Ringelstein – St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School (Corinda)
Third: Khushi Kadia and Jasmine Kaur – Aspley State High School (Aspley)
Highly Commended: Kyle Montgomery – Wavell State High School (Wavell Heights)

Commissioner’s School Champion

Bullyard State School (Bullyard)

For further information, visit the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Buy Smart Competition website.