National Video Contest Inspires Kids to Save

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Jan 06, 2011, 01:44 ET

Top Eight Lights, Camera, Save! Entries Now on YouTube

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the American Bankers Association Education Foundation broadcast on YouTube the Lights, Camera, Save! video contest's eight finalists that will compete for the four grand prizes. Grand prize winners will be announced on March 1 at 11:00 a.m. (EST) via YouTube. View the eight finalists' videos online at www.youtube.com/TeachChildrentoSave.

"We're excited for the eight finalists and wish them luck as they move on to the final judging phase," says Laura Fisher, director of the ABA Education Foundation, the group that sponsors the program. "We congratulate all of the entrants for their creative videos and remind them to start young, save more."

Lights, Camera, Save!, launched late last year as an offshoot of the ABA Education Foundation's Teach Children to Save program, is a unique competition that encourages youth to use video to communicate the value of saving and inspire others to become lifelong savers.

Some 170 banks from 45 states hosted local levels of the competition and selected a winner to represent their bank and compete on the national level for a $3,000, $1,500 or $500 U.S. savings bond or an iPod® Touch. The top eight finalists were preselected based on the quality and content of the video and the judging criteria set forth by the contest's official rules to compete for the grand prizes.

The Lights, Camera, Save! top eight videos were submitted by the bank's listed below in no particular order:

United Bank & Trust (Manhattan, Kan.)
Wolverine Bank (Midland, Mich.)
The First National Bank of Suffield (Suffield, Conn.)
American Trust & Savings Bank (Dubuque, Iowa)
Astoria Federal Savings & Loan Association (Lake Success, N.Y.)
Athens Federal Community Bank (Etowah, Tenn.)
Cameron State Bank (Lake Charles, La.)
Hilltop National Bank (Casper, Wyo.)

The final eight videos will be reviewed by the Lights, Camera, Save! National Judging Panel comprised of innovators and communication and personal finance experts. National judges are as follows: Janet Bodnar, Dr. Jannette L. Dates, Matt Dozier, Laura Levine and Albert Reed.

The parent program, Teach Children to Save, is a national campaign to organize banker volunteers in efforts to educate young people about the importance of developing a lifelong savings habit. This year the program will celebrate its 15th anniversary. Since 1997, it has reached 3.4 million young people with the help of some 80,000 banker volunteers, an annual awareness day -- Teach Children to Save Day -- the Teach Children to Save Web site: www.teachchildrentosave.com, and now the Lights, Camera, Save! video contest.

For more on the contest, visit www.TeachChildrentoSave.com and look for the Lights, Camera, Save! icon in the top right corner.

The ABA Education Foundation provides financial education programs and resources that help bankers make their communities better. Nearly 100,000 bankers have taught basic finance skills to about 4 million young people through participation in the Foundation's signature programs, Teach Children to Save and Get Smart About Credit. Founded by bankers in 1925, the foundation is guided by a board of bankers and is an affiliate of the American Bankers Association. For more information, visit www.abaef.com or call 1-800-BANKERS.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Videos available at http://www.youtube.com/user/TeachChildrenToSave

SOURCE American Bankers Association