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.”
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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
