Money Smart Kids Essay Contest Scholarships!
The annual Money Smart Kid Essay Contest is a creative opportunity for young students to increase their financial awareness and develop and apply their money management skills. All sixth- through eighth-grade students in the St. Louis metropolitan area are encouraged to submit an essay of 500 words or less answering the annual contest question.
This year the question was:
What have been the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in your community?
How could we better prepare for these types of financial hardships in the future?
Sponsored by the following companies.
2021 Winners:
Three winners were selected by a panel of volunteer judges to receive scholarships of $2,000, $1,000, and $500. Though we were not able to present the awards in person this year, we are happy to congratulate them here!
First Place Winner:
Norriah Holder – 6th grader
LaSalle Springs Middle School
St. Louis, MO
Second Place Winner:
Sivani Vasireddy – 8th grader
Fort Zumwalt South Middle School
St. Peters, MO
Third Place Winner:
Shravanya Shrinivas – 6th grader
Lakeview Elementary
Lake St. Louis, MO
In addition, essay contest winners were able to identify nonprofit agencies to receive a donation on behalf of the students. Additional winners include: Sistakeeper Empowerment Center, Central Institute for the Deaf and Lakeview Elementary.
Please check the website in January 2022 for the 2022 Money Smart Kids Essay Contest Application.
2020 Winners:
Three winners were selected by a panel of volunteer judges to receive scholarships of $2,000, $1,000, and $500. Though we were not able to present the awards in person this year, we are happy to congratulate them here!
First Place Winner:
Anthony Holmes – Florissant, MO
Second Place Winner:
Sophia Lundry – Chesterfield, MO
Third Place Winner:
Blake Schaper – Alton, IL
Essay contest winners were also able to identify local nonprofits to receive a donation on behalf of the students. Nonprofits selected were Affinia Healthcare Foundation (selected by Holmes), Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri (selected by Lundry) and the 5 A’s Animal Shelter in Alton (selected by Schaper).
Sponsors of the essay contest include Stifel Bank & Trust, Commerce Bank and Midwest BankCentre. (A full list of sponsors can be found here.)
2019 Winners:
The Money Smart Kids essay contest is sponsored by Money Smart St. Louis as part of our region-wide Money Smart Month initiative in April 2019. The contest is part of a nationwide initiative created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in 2002.
