What's The News? quiz contest kicks off with St Gabriel's event

On the morning of April 15, Julien Fok found himself racking his brain to remember volcano names as he worked his way through an online quiz.

- Dillon Loh

The 15-year-old student of St Gabriel's Secondary School said: "I'm interested mainly in politics, so I found some of the (non-political) questions quite challenging."

Still, the Secondary 3 student scored 21 out of 30, surprising himself. "I went through the social media channels of many different local and international outlets to prepare for the quiz," he said.

"I'm quite satisfied with the result, but it's definitely made me want to go home and read up on other types of news."

Julien is taking part in the current affairs quiz competition What's The News? organised by The Straits Times, which kicked off on April 15 with a live event at St Gabriel's Secondary School.

The competition is open to students aged 15 to 19, and more than 6,000 have registered, representing 50 secondary schools, junior colleges and the Institute of Technical Education.

The preliminary round tests students on their knowledge of news and current affairs via a 30-question online quiz that must be completed within 30 minutes.

The questions cover topics as wide-ranging as world leaders' reactions to US President Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs, the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year, and K-pop band Stray Kids' historic sixth album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.