Mile High City to host 2016 National LifeSmarts Championship event April 9-12 – National Consumers League

April 8, 2016

State champion teams to face off at 22nd annual national consumer literacy scholarship competition in Denver

Contact: Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (724) 799-5392

Washington, DC — In celebration of April’s Financial Literacy Month, the National Consumers League (NCL) has announced the nearly three dozen state champion teams that have earned a spot at the 2016 National LifeSmarts Championship, which will take place starting later this week in Denver, Colorado.

LifeSmarts (www.LifeSmarts.org) is a national consumer literacy scholarship competition, celebrating its 22nd season this year, hosted by NCL, the nation’s oldest consumer watchdog organization. The 2016 National LifeSmarts Champion team will be crowned at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Downtown Denver on Tuesday, April 12.

LifeSmarts is a competitive educational program, in which teams of students begin online. Top-scorers progress to state competitions, and then state champion teams meet each April to compete in the National LifeSmarts Championship. This year’s lineup of state champion teams come from as near as Elk Creek 4-H Club, Arapahoe County, Colorado, and as far away as the Florida team from Jacksonville, which returns to defend its title as last year’s national champs.

“We are so proud of this year’s state LifeSmarts champions, who have proven themselves to be the best and the brightest of the next generation of consumers,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “LifeSmarts is fun and fast, and the perfect vehicle for educating young consumers. Our program goes in-depth on the issues kids—and adults—are facing now: finances, health care, the environment, and technology.”

The 2016 National LifeSmarts Champion and other winning teams will walk away with prizes and scholarships. In addition to placing as a team, individual students have the opportunity to compete for scholarships by demonstrating knowledge in specific program topic areas. The top eight placing teams and top five individuals are recognized. Additionally, NCL will award scholarships to winning participants from its Safety Smart Ambassador program, conducted in conjunction with Underwriters Laboratories (UL), which offers high school students the opportunity to teach very young students environmental and safety in-classroom lessons as a community service.

NCL thanks the sponsors who make the program possible including Experian, UL, Western Union, LifeLock, Comcast, Google, Intuit, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, and American Express.

Consumer-savvy teens representing 31 states and the District of Columbia will compete at this year’s national event. Throughout the 2015-2016 program year, more than 100,000 teens competed online for a chance to represent their states at the 2016 National LifeSmarts Championship. Players answered more than 3 million consumer questions in the online competition.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

When:  April 12, 2016
Where:  Embassy Suites Downtown Denver, 1420 Stout Street, Denver, CO  80202

Final and semi-final matches begin:  Tuesday, April 12, 9 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time
Awards Ceremony: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time

Follow the competition online

Parents and teachers can follow the action at Facebook.com/LifeSmarts and via Twitter: #LifeSmarts

The semi-final and final competition matches will be streamed live at www.LifeSmarts.org.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 starting at 9 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time (8 a.m. Pacific Time, 12 p.m. Eastern)

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About the National Consumers League and LifeSmarts

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run the programs on a volunteer basis. For more information, visit: www.LifeSmarts.org, email LifeSmarts@nclnet.org, or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at 202-835-3323.