Temasek JC wins first place, takes home $4k in ST's What's The News? quiz competition

While others were left stunned, the four-member team from Temasek Junior College (TJC) were delighted, as they had been praying for the question on newly elected Pope Leo XIV's first words when he appeared in public in Vatican City on May 8.

- Stacey Ngiam

Rayner Ng, 16, said: "(The Pope's quote) had come out in ST's daily reports. I read about it from there and so, we answered correctly (when it was redirected to us)."

In the past few weeks, the team of four from TJC had made reading the news a daily habit. Their efforts paid off, when they emerged the winner at The Straits Times' current affairs quiz competition on May 23.

"It was more about applying what we had learnt in our day-to-day lives in this competition," said 16-year-old Guo Yatian.

Both excited and surprised to have won the competition, the team expressed their gratitude to the teachers and friends who had supported them throughout their journey. They took home a $4,000 cash prize for coming in first.

The schools that finished second, third and fourth pocketed $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.

What's The News? is an interschool interactive quiz competition organised by ST as part of its 180th anniversary outreach, and is supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) is a partner.

The preliminary round kicked off in April, where more than 6,000 students across 50 schools participated individually in an online current affairs quiz.

Following an intense competition during the semi-finals on May 21, which featured four telematch games, four schools entered the finals — Presbyterian High School, Outram Secondary School, St Joseph's Institution and TJC.

The finals were held at the event's campus partner, the National University of Singapore's University Cultural Centre.

TJC came in first, followed by St Joseph's Institution, Outram Secondary School and Presbyterian High School.