More than 160 students from 42 elementary, middle, and high schools across Maryland are winners of statewide competitions in personal finance and economics coordinated by the Maryland Council of Economics Education (MCEE) during the 2024-2025 school year. The winners were honored at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 15, 2025 at Towson University.

A list of all winners is available here.

A record number of students participated in this year’s MCEE ; more than 20,000 students from 17 Maryland counties competed on teams or as individuals. Awards were presented to winners in:

• Stock Market Game™ (SMG): A semester- or year-long simulation challenging teams to create and manage an imaginary $100,000 portfolio as they learn about the stock market and economic systems.

• InvestWrite Essay Competition: A national writing competition that reinforces the economic and financial education concepts learned in the Stock Market Game™. 

• Maryland Personal Finance Challenge: An academic competition for high school teams featuring case studies and quiz rounds about personal finance concepts. The Challenge is sponsored by M&T, WesBanco, State Farm, Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal Credit Union, First Financial Federal Credit Union, and Towson University. 

• Maryland Economics Challenge: A one-day event where teams of high school students demonstrate their knowledge of micro and macroeconomic principles and the world economy. The Economics Challenge is supported by Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union and Howard County Education Credit Union.

• A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words Poster Competition: K-8 students demonstrate their understanding of economic and personal finance concepts through original art. 

• Financial Education Month Poetry Contest: Students and educators create original poems about personal finance topics. 

These competitions are coordinated and hosted by the Maryland Council on Economic Education, the statewide nonprofit working with educators to ensure that Maryland's children graduate from high school with the economic and financial knowledge and decision-making skills they need to succeed as adults. In addition to student competitions. MCEE offers professional development opportunities for Maryland K-12 educators and curates lesson plans incorporating personal finance and economic concepts into any subject and for all grades. MCEE supports more than 2,250 teachers each year who reach over 200,000 Maryland students.

“The winning students—and their teachers—know the importance of understanding personal finance and economics, “said MCEE Executive Director Julie Weaver.  “MCEE is proud to honor the achievements of these hard-working students and the dedication of their teachers for providing the opportunity to learn these critical concepts.”