The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is pleased to report a small but exquisite addition to its gold reserves – the prestigious 2008 ‘Ardoise d’Or’ (Golden Slate) award which the Jugend und Wirtschaft association recently bestowed on iconomix. Although known for selling some of its gold holdings in recent years, the SNB is now able to boost its existing stock of over 1,000 tonnes with an extra 350 grams of glittering precious metal... We would like to thank the Jugend und Wirtschaft jury for the award. This is what they had to say:

“The iconomix training tool can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways – be it in the form of a worksheet, a short quiz, or as a module spanning several lessons. What’s more, participants can even take part in a competition. iconomix provides an extremely attractive supplement to conventional economics-related curricula at upper secondary schools. The jury was impressed by the training programme’s content, educational value and technical quality.”

The Jugend und Wirtschaft association – which acts as an interface between schools and the world of economics – inaugurated the ‘Ardoise d’Or’ award in recognition of outstanding teaching content and publications covering aspects of economic policy. iconomix is very proud to receive this important accolade, both because of the award’s prestigious nature and because teachers at upper secondary level – who, incidentally, are well represented on the Jugend und Wirtschaft jury – will recognise the seal of approval this entails.

We would like to express our delight at receiving this award – on behalf of the iconomix team, the SNB and all other involved parties. Yet we have no intention now of resting on our laurels. On the contrary, we will continue to work on improving the iconomix training tool in consultation with you, the people who use it.

On behalf of the iconomix team

Michael Manz and Manuel Wälti