Budding young stock pickers can try their hand at building up a nest egg in the KPMG Senior School Investment Challenge — with $20,000 in prizes up for grabs.

Professional services firm KPMG is looking for teams from Island schools to invest a virtual portfolio of $50,000 over a six-month period.

The most successful teams — who end up with the highest-valued portfolio by the final valuation date in April next year — can win cash prizes for their schools. First place wins $10,000, second receives $6,000 and the third-placed team takes $4,000.

Each school can enter a maximum of three teams and no school can win more than one prize. This is the tenth year that KPMG has staged the Challenge. Mentors from KPMG work with the teams.

Readers will be able to follow the young investors’ progress in The Royal Gazette. Every month, we will publish tables showing the relative performance of the teams and will feature interviews with some of the young investors.

Up until last year, the Challenge was featured in the Bermuda Sun.

The aims of the Challenge include to stimulate interest in the concept of investing o for the future; to develop an awareness of the capital markets and the types of securities available; to raise awareness of career opportunities in financial services and international business.

Representatives of any school with an interest in entering teams for the challenge should contact Wanda Armstrong, KPMG human resources manager and co-ordinator of the Challenge.

Ms Armstrong can be contacted by calling 294-2679, or by e-mail at wandaarmstrong@kpmg.bm.