Daniel Hooker, from Northwood in London, has been named as the winner of Chance to be Chancellor 2009. The Times coverage of Daniel’s winning entry can be read
here and a video interview with Daniel by True Tube here.
A further 9 runners up were announced and are listed as below:
Daniel Schoner, Somerset
Guy Purssell, London
Fatema Lookmanjee, Reading
Jamie Bylett, Sandhurst
Laura Tester, Aldershot
Vivek Chadha, Middlesex
David Gregory, Woking
Mahiban Balachandran, London
Emily Dean, Surrey
Thank you to all of those who entered into Chance to be Chancellor 2009.
Would you like the Chance to be Chancellor?
The Citizenship Foundation, in partnership with Aviva and The Times, has relaunched Chance to be Chancellor: a competition for 14-19 year olds (Key Stage 3/4 and Post-16 students) which will put students in the driving seat of Public Spending – by being the Chancellor!
"Following the success of last year's competition, I'm very pleased that it is running again. There are new challenges and big choices to be made this year. I hope that the many people entering the competition enjoy the chance to be Chancellor."
How it works
Students are provided with a list of ways (policies) in which public money can be spent on areas such as Environment, Health and Education. However, just like in the ‘real world’, they can’t pick them all. Students will need to prioritise the policies that they think are most important, making compromises where necessary, and then justify their choices by writing the Chancellor’s speech.
Once they’ve made their choices, students will need to write a speech of between 500-1000 words to explain to the country what they will be spending their money on, and why. Students will need to express their opinions clearly in writing and be persuasive in their arguments. They’ve got a whole country to convince!
How to enter
The competition pack is linked below and includes both the 'Budget, Economy & Government' & 'Chancellor's Choices'. 'Budget, Economy & Government' is an educational resource and activity unit, coveringt the Budget, the recession and government borrowing.
The second part to the competition is the 'Chancellor's Choices', which provides the economic policies for the young peoples budget choices. Entrants must make their choice of economic policy under the constraint of a points based budget, and justified with a 500-1000 word 'Budget Speech'.
Once entrants have made their choices and written their speech they can either submit their entries online by clicking on the 'Apply Now' button, or downloading and posting the postal entry form also linked below.
Chance to be Chancellor is now closed for this academic year.
Prizes
Short-listed entries will be judged by Grainne Gilmore, Economics Correspondent at The Times. The winner will receive a Nintendo Wii Console Sports Pack, which includes the fantastic set of Wii Sports games, along with a £250 charity voucher to give to their charity of choice, kindly donated by Charity Vouchers. The winner will also have their entry published in The Times newspaper, and the chance to go and see their words put in to print! Nine runners up will each receive an iPod Shuffle as well as a £100 charity voucher also donated by Charity Vouchers. Everyone who enters will get a certificate for their Record of Achievement.
Use Chance to be Chancellor as a lesson
The ‘Chancellors Choices’ resource pack can be used to stimulate whole class lessons on public spending, or within smaller active learning group work in the classroom.
Students can then write their speech in a Citizenship, PSHEE, or other appropriate lesson, or as homework.
In addition to the resource pack, which contains information on public spending and what the government does, there are also resources available from this site, including articles about current economic issues in the In Focus section.
Grainne Gilmore, Economics Correspondent at the Times, said: “The task for our budding Chancellors is a daunting one this year as the country remains gripped by recession. Prioritising the right areas in which to spend money has never been more difficult as the Government's finances remain precarious and are unlikely to improve any time soon.”
Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP said: “The Chance to be Chancellor competition is a fantastic way of teaching financial education in schools in Stretford and Urmston. It’s also a great opportunity for students to have their say on what they think should be included in the budget.
I encourage as many students as possible in Stretford and Urmston to get involved and submit their thoughts on how to balance the country’s books, which is a particularly difficult challenge in the current economic climate. I wish all entrants in Stretford and Urmston the best of luck.”
Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP said: “The competition enables pupils aged 14 to 19 to develop their own budget, identifying their views on priorities for public spending. This is the second year of the competition, which acts as an important tool for delivering financial and economic education in schools.
It also gives pupils the opportunity to have their say on how to tackle the financial crisis in the UK brought on by the world-wide downturn.”
Mike Hancock MP said: "After recent events, I am tempted to say that students in Portsmouth might well do a better job of writing the Budget than the current Chancellor and Prime Minister! Today's children are the voters and taxpayers of tomorrow. So, it is important that they learn how their taxes are spent, the choices facing the Government and the issues involved in raising and spending money.
This is a fantastic and interactive way to learn about those choices, have their say and who knows may be even influence policy!"
Behind the Scenes of Budget Day | Opens in new window
This is a short video from the HM Treasury's YouTube channel of behind the scenes of the Chancellor Alistair Darling's first Budget speech.
Crown copyright 2008, hm-treasury.gov.uk
