The children aged 15-17 were bidding for up to £80 to develop five projects, which included promoting financial education in schools, discouraging personal stereotypes, setting up a self-help allotment for the homeless and breaking down age barriers through a 'selfie' photo campaign.
The children had to convince the panel that their bid for £80 on promotional materials like flyers, balloons, business cards and even cake would be money well spent.
The full allocation of funding was awarded to each project, although certain spending requests were refused, such as a megaphone to attract people's attention in the High Street!
Insp Hicks commented: "The purpose is to help the young people learn life skills and engage in a professional environment. It was great fun and they all did extremely well."
Insp Hicks was joined on the panel at Sutton High School for Girls on Thursday, 14 August by Lee Ocsko, Youth Engagement Co-ordinator for the borough; Jennifer Peterson, of the Youth Offending Team; Toni Walsh, Sutton Council for Voluntary Services and Simon Morris, HSBC bank manager, Sutton.