Rules and entry
The Young Consumers of the Year competition supports consumer education and encourages the exploration of the skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding necessary to become an effective consumer – pre-requisites for active citizenship and full participation within society. Taking part is a good opportunity for your students to broaden their skills and knowledge.
Competition stages
Qualifying heats - These are organised by your local trading standards service or its consumer advice section. The competition is available online for all teams this year and some local authorities may use the resource as an alternative to their local heats. To register, complete the details on the 'register to take part' web page to get your unique log-in. Questions are multiple-choice and there is a one hour time limit. Your school may submit multiple teams but each individual team may submit only one entry. Your local authority trading standards service will advise the school if your team has qualified for the local or regional final.
Regional finals - Successful teams for the qualifying heats compete with others in the area in a series of regional finals which are held in late spring.
Grand final - Regional winners will be invited to attend the final which will be held in 2012, at Manchester Central conference centre 26-27 June 2012. Teams and their teacher/tutor will be invited to Manchester for two days (one night) where accommodation is provided along with a social programme for all to enjoy before the grand final. There are prizes for all contestants with the winners also receiving £1,000 for their school and the Young Consumers of the Year Trophy as well as other prizes.
Competition rules
- The competition is open to teams of four, from schools, colleges and youth groups.
- A team of four students may only ever enter the competition once. It is, however, possible to submit a team with a maximum of two members who have taken part in a previous year, provided that the team of which they were originally members did not proceed to a regional final.
- Team members must be aged between 14 and 17 years at the start of the competition in September. They must not have reached the age of 18 before 1 January 2012.
- Immediate family of trading standards professionals will not be eligible to enter.
- Where a problem arises substitute team members may be allowed at the organisers' discretion.
- A formal appeals procedure will be invoked if there is a challenge to a result but the organisers' decision is final in any dispute.
Important: Please make absolutely sure when selecting your team that examination commitments will not prevent them from competing in the national final, should your team qualify.
To register to take part in this competition, complete the form on the register to take part page and submit all entries before 4pm on Friday 13 January 2012. You will be asked for the following details when you register for the competition:
- name of school
- email address
- team names
Project:
Solvent abuse
A project for young people to look at new ways of tackling solvent abuse in their locality. Are there problems with fireworks, graffiti, under age drinking, litter? The project can be in any medium (poster, play, rap, DVD, etc.) and can involve a whole class or year group. Entries will be judged prior to Conference.
Register your school before 31 December 2011 to receive your briefing pack
This is a great chance to get more young people involved in discussions about why anti-social behaviour happens and how they would tackle it in their own area.
