Campaign info
About the NouHätä! campaign
The NouHätä! campaign is a national safety skills campaign for eighth graders in secondary schools. The campaign improves young people’s ability to anticipate and prevent hazardous situations. In addition to safety-positive attitudes, young people learn skills needed to do the right thing in the event of an accident. More than 45,000 young people participate in the NouHätä! campaign each year.
Read more about the campaign and sign up.
Many accidents can be prevented by improving safety skills and awareness. Safety is improved by increasing knowledge and learning to identify hazards. Accidents can happen even to the cautious and prepared. In the event of an accident, it is important to know what to do.
On our website, you can find free, electronic teaching materials that you can use to easily and effectively plan NouHätä! lessons. Contact your local rescue services for a school visit or other assistance to support the teaching.
The NouHätä! campaign teaches students how to:
- Identify risks of fire and accident
- Prevent accidents
- Promote fire safety at home and school
- Understand the dangers of careless use of fire and responsibilities
- Take the correct action in an accident
- Call emergency services and use the 112Suomi mobile app
- Administer first aid
- Use fire extinguishing equipment
- Prepare for incidents
The teaching can be organised at any time of the school year. If the class enters the NouHätä! competition, the teaching must be provided before the first qualifying round.
About the NouHätä! competition
- Eighth graders who participate in the campaign are eligible to take part in the NouHätä! competition in teams of three students. NouHätä! training must be completed before entering the competition.
- The first stage of the competition is a digital qualifying round, which takes place in schools under the supervision of a teacher. For more about the competition schedule, see the bottom of this page.
- The best teams in the qualifying round are invited by local rescue services to regional semi-finals, where students’ knowledge and practical skills are tested.
- The best teams of the regional semi-finals will be invited to the grand final hosted at the Emergency Services Academy Finland in Kuopio.
- The winner of the final receives a grand prize of €2,000. Other top teams will also receive awards.
What do students need to know in the competition?
The digital qualifying round consists of a multiple-choice online quiz. The regional semi-finals and the grand final include practical tasks in addition to a theory section. Success in the competition requires knowledge, skills and teamwork. Practical skills, quick thinking and common sense will give you an edge. Sometimes, success and winning may also be down to good luck.
The tasks are mainly based on the educational materials on the NouHätä! campaign website. In addition to NouHätä! materials, the theory section’s tasks test other knowledge related to everyday safety. The sources for the tasks may include materials on the websites of the Finnish Red Cross or the Finnish Road Safety Council, for example.
How do I sign up for the competition?
All schools that sign up for the campaign within the time limit will be invited to participate in the competition. We will announce the digital qualifying round directly to schools that have signed up for the campaign. We recommend saving the dates of the semi-final and final rounds to avoid scheduling conflicts.
Campaign and competition schedule 2025
Sign-up between September and January
- The sign-up period is from 2 September 2024 to 15 January 2025
- Teaching materials are available at all times. Also outside of the sign-up period.
Organising NouHätä! teaching
- The teaching can be organised at any time of the school year. We recommend organising the teaching as early as in the autumn term as possible to give students a better chance of participating in the competition.
- Learning is supported by extensive NouHätä! educational materials. There is a separate self-study section for students. There are ready-to-use lesson materials and plans for teachers.
- After signing up for the campaign, teachers should be in contact with rescue services to ask about support for the teaching. We recommend that you sign up for the campaign as early as at the start of the autumn term. This gives the rescue department more time to schedule a school visit or respond to requests for support.
- In addition to the extensive NouHätä! teaching materials, you can also use resources by the BFireSafe@School project. The resources are available at https://bfiresafeatschool.eu
Entering the NouHätä! competition
- All eighth graders who participated in the campaign can enter the competition. Please note that the NouHätä! teaching covered in the campaign must be completed before participating in the digital qualifying round.
- Instructions for the digital qualifying round will be sent to all schools that have signed up for the campaign.
- Teams that qualify from the first round are invited to regional semi-finals.
- The winning team of each regional semi-final is invited to the NouHätä! grand final hosted at the Emergency Services Academy Finland in Kuopio.
- All students participating in the semi-finals and grand final are insured against accidents.
NouHätä! competition schedules
- Digital qualifying round 22 January .2025 to 12 February 2025
- Regional semi-finals on Wednesday, 19 March 2025
- Grand final on Thursday, 24 April 2025
NouHätä! competition awards 2025
The winning team will receive a grand prize of €2,000 grand prize and the NouHätä! challenge cup, a golden helmet. The second and third placed teams will also be awarded.
Sign up for the campaign.
