Year 9 Students Beat 6,700 Entrants To Win UK Financial Competition

Cleethorpes Academy Year 9 students who have won first prize in the Young Money Challenge 2022 by creating a financial app to tackle fraud. They are Ava Burke (14), Sophia Wright (13) and Evie Green (14). 

Three Cleethorpes Academy students have beaten off completion from 6,700 entrants across the UK to win a competition designed to tackle financial fraud.

The Year 9 girls, Ava Burke (14) Evie Green (14) and Sophia Wright (13), designed an app, which they called ‘Finance Friend’ to tackle fraud, which won them first prize in the Young Money Challenge 2022, organised by Young Enterprise.

The Challenge is an annual programme that encourages children and young people to consider the connection between money management and the wider issues affecting local and global communities.

Competition organisers said they had been “extremely impressed by the creative and thoughtful entries, and overwhelmed by the passion shown by children for money management and financial inclusion.”

The students won Category Three of the competition, for ages 11-14, and will each receive £100, plus £200 for the Academy. They will take part in a virtual awards ceremony later this month.

The girls described their app as “simple, yet accessible to everyone.” It includes a money-tracking calendar, access to financial experts via text chat, information on fraud, financial safety and better spending.

The girls created the app in Personal Development classes and Teacher Miss Rebecca Ward was thrilled with their enthusiasm and ideas for the subject.

“We had a couple of lessons talking about finance and I wanted it to be relative to the students’ lives in the future, so we talked about budgets, how to apply for mortgages, and how to avoid financial fraud. 

“When the opportunity to enter this competition came about the students were very enthusiastic. The app the girls created is fantastic and arguably something that can definitely be used in the future. I am very proud of them, they have blown me away with this,” she said.

Ava Burke said the girls had taken what they learned in lessons and expanded it to help everyone. “We did not expect to win and we are really proud,” she said.

The plan for the ‘Finance Friend’ app, which was submitted by the girls at Cleethorpes Academy to win the competition. 

The girls with Teacher Miss Rebecca Ward, who is in charge of the Finance curriculum.