Emotions run high in the competition’s concluding moments.
After many months of hard work spread over three rounds, the 2023-2024 edition of the Generation €uro Students’ Award has come to an end. From October 2023 to May 2024, students from secondary schools across Luxembourg gathered in the competition’s 11th edition and assumed the role of members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) to develop, discuss and defend their monetary policy decisions.
70 teams took part in the first round of the competition, an online quiz with 30 questions about the Eurosystem and its monetary policy. Of these 70 teams, 23 were selected for the second round, in which they had to make a monetary policy decision and explain in writing the reasoning behind that decision. The final on Thursday May 2nd brought together the top three teams from the second round, where finalists had to present a new monetary policy decision and answer questions from the BCL jury.
After the teams’ presentations and the jury’s deliberation, Mr. Gaston Reinesch, Governor of the BCL and member of the Governing Council of the ECB, opened the award ceremony.
Results
The teams Inflation Busters and ESL1 from the European School of Luxembourg I achieved first and second place respectively, followed by Econ Warriors from St. Georges’ International School. The laureates are as follows:
-First prize: Inflation Busters from the European School Luxembourg I, composed of Benjamin Bouquin, Lukas Jacob Pietilä Párraga, Capucine Thibault–Liger (teacher: Mr. Lars Naesgaard Thuesen);
- Second prize: ESL1 from the European School Luxembourg I, composed of Eduardo Holmes Arevalo, Theodoro Bua, Lea Schlüchter, Vanessa Volmich, Nora Kpalobi (teacher: Mr. Lars Naesgaard Thuesen);
- Third prize: Econ Warriors from the St. Georges’ International School, composed of Arina Stolnaya, Ekaterina Stolnaya, Luke Foster, Simon Hermansson, Maxime Chicheportiche (teacher: Ms. Julia Van Kalles).
Prizes
All finalists received tote bags with cash prizes, BCL collector coins and other BCL memorabilia. They will also have the opportunity to conduct a two-week internship at BCL. Furthermore, the winners of the first prize received a trophy and were invited to a study trip to Frankfurt that occurred on the 20th and the 21st of June. During the trip, the students visited the ECB, the Bundesbank and the Frankfurt School Centre for Central Banking.
The BCL would like again to thank warmly all the students and teacher involved in the 2023-2024 edition for their commitment and the quality of their work. The competition could not be successful without their tireless efforts.