FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2011
ABA Media Contact: Sarah Grano
(202) 663-5468
E-mail: sgrano@aba.com
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ABA EDUCATION FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES FINALISTS IN LIGHTS, CAMERA, SAVE! VIDEO CONTEST

WASHINGTON — The ABA Education Foundation revealed the 12 finalists for its second annual Lights, Camera, Save! video contest today. The foundation chose from videos about saving created by young people from across the country. [Click here to view videos.]

"Our goal is to get kids excited about saving by encouraging them to express themselves using a medium that they're comfortable with," said Laura Fisher, executive director of the ABA Education Foundation. "We congratulate the 12 finalists on their creativity and wish them luck in the final round of judging."

The contest began at the local level with children submitting videos to 178 participating banks. Each bank chose one video to compete in the national contest for a chance to win a $3,000, $1,500, or $500 U.S. savings bond. The top 12 finalists were preselected based on their videos' quality and content and the judging criteria set forth in the contest's official rules. Winners will be announced in March 2012.

The top 12 videos were submitted by the following banks:

• Wolverine Bank, Midland, Mich.
• Susquehanna Bank, Lititz, Pa.
• South Valley Bank & Trust, Klamath Falls, Ore.
• Principal Bank, Des Moines, Iowa
• U.S. Bank, Minneapolis
• Guilford Savings Bank, Guilford, Conn.
• Central Bank, Jefferson City, Mo.
• American Trust & Savings Bank, Dubuque, Iowa
• QNB Bank, Quakertown, Pa.
• County National Bank, Hillsdale, Mich.
• Astoria Federal Savings, Lake Success, N.Y.
• Bath State Bank, Bath, Ind.

The 12 finalists will be judged by the following panel of expert judges:

• George Barany, director of Financial Education and Youth Saves, Consumer Federation of America
• Janet Bodnar, editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
• Kelvin Boston, executive producer and host, Moneywise with Kelvin Boston
• Matt Dozier, president and CEO, EAST Initiative
• Laura Levine, president and CEO, Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
• Scott Rubens, news director, WUSA- Washington

The Lights, Camera, Save! video contest was inspired by the foundation's Teach Children To Save program, now in its sixteenth year. 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. Since 1997, it has reached 4.7 million young people through the volunteer efforts of some 107,000, banker volunteers.

For more on the contest, visit the website at www.aba.com/ABAEF/LightsCameraSave.htm.

[Note to Editor: Videos available at http://www.youtube.com/user/TeachChildrenToSave. The top 12 videos are posted in the purple section on the right.]

The ABA Education Foundation provides financial education programs and resources that help bankers make their communities better. Nearly 130,000 bankers have taught basic finance skills to some 5.9 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.

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