The Provost is pictured with the Belmont Academy South Ayrshire Young Consumer Champions Adam Falconer, Rosie House, Rachel Cornick and Gail Donaghey.
Belmont Academy pupils will represent South Ayrshire in the Scottish Finals of the UK Young Consumer of the Year competition, which will be held in the Scottish Parliament in March 2012, after winning the South Ayrshire heat of the competition.
The national competition, run by the Trading Standards Institute and organised locally by South Ayrshire Council's Trading Standards team, is open to groups of young people aged from 14 to 18. The competition tests their knowledge and understanding of current consumer issues on a range of topics including consumer rights and responsibilities, money and finance, food and health, safety and the environment and European legislation.
Five of South Ayrshire's nine secondary schools took part with teams from Ayr Academy, Belmont Academy, Kyle Academy, Queen Margaret Academy and Wellington School all doing their best to win the competition which was held in Ayr Academy.
The winning team, Rachael Cornick, Adam Falconer, Gail Donaghey and Rosie House, had some very worthy opponents, but managed to pip their nearest rival to the winning spot.
Victory was particularly sweet for the Belmont Academy team as although various schools have won the South Ayrshire heat over the years this is the first time that Belmont Academy has been the winning team.
South Ayrshire Provost Winifred Sloan presented the winning team with the much sought after South Ayrshire Young Consumers of the Year Cup. Provost Sloan said: "Every year I am impressed with the wide range of knowledge shown by all the teams and this year was no exception. It was a very close competition and all the teams did well.
"The questions this year were very challenging and were good preparation for the team when they meet other young people in the Scottish final. The competition is a fun and entertaining way to ensure that young people understand consumer issues.
"I would like to congratulate Belmont Academy for winning the trophy and wish them every success in the Scottish final next year".