Kids can win cash with the ATO’s Tax, Super + You Competition

It probably isn’t a great idea to be too creative with your taxes but that’s not the case with The Australian Taxation Office’s 2018 Tax, Super +You competition, where high school students are encouraged to think outside the box and develop creative ideas on how they think tax and/or super contributes to the community.

There are two categories – Junior Secondary (Years 7–9) and Senior Secondary (Years 10–12) with a total cash prize pool of $6200 to be won. Students have until 2nd November 2018 to enter the competition, with the top 10 finalists to be announced in November 2018.

The prizes are pretty good, with up to $400 for the winning entry plus $600 for the school or community organisation. Senior student winners are also eligible for a week’s work placement within the ATO’s Marketing and Communications team

The ATO has also published teaching resources in line with the Australian curriculum, which school teachers can incorporate into their lesson plans. The materials are available for download at https://www.taxsuperandyou.gov.au.

ATO Assistant Commissioner Sally Bektas, who is part of the judging panel, said: “We were delighted with the creativity and quality of the competition entries from students in 2017 and we are looking forward to seeing what this year’s entries have in store.”

Other members of the judging panel include electronic house music duo and hosts of Triple J’s popular Friday Night Shuffle, Vance Musgrove and Mikah Freeman, from the Aston Shuffle.

Short stories, animation videos and drawings are just some of the creative ideas from 2017. One of last year’s winning entries was a tax rap from Year 10 students Jordan Donohue and Cabe Barrett from Singleton in New South Wales.

For more information about the 2018 Tax, Super +You competition, visit taxsuperandyou.gov.au/competition-about