Stephen Spender Prize 2025

Calling MFL, EAL and English teachers! Bring creative translation into the classroom this summer with the Stephen Spender Prize 2025!

The Stephen Spender Prize is an annual competition for poetry in translation that celebrates the creativity of young people across the UK and Ireland – and their teachers! The Prize has categories schools, teachers and individual young people, which welcome translations from all languages, as well as a special ‘Spotlight‘ strand that each year focuses on a different widely spoken home or heritage language.

Open for entries 1 May to 31 July | Free entry for all young people and teachers in the UK and Ireland!

Whether you’re an MLF, EAL or English teacher, and whatever the languages taught and spoken in your school community, the prize is a perfect way to engage students of all ages this summer term.

Teachers can register here to receive classroom inspiration and activity ideas throughout the prize window, and you can follow all the latest news on our website and social media channels below.

Ready to start planning and working on your entries? Visit our Guide for Teachers page for all the key information about the prize at a glance, and explore our Stephen Spender Prize Resources hub for Teaching Resources and Student Resources to guide you and your pupils through every step of entering the prize.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at prize@stephen-spender.org. We hope that many of you and your students will get involved this year!

Website: www.stephen-spender.org | X: @StephenSpender| Facebook: @StephenSpenderTrust | Instagram: @stephenspendertrust | Bluesky: @stephenspender.bsky.social

Oxford Admissions Webinar series

St Hilda’s College is embarking on a webinar series for state school students that will look in detail at the Oxford admissions process and is aimed at students at different stages in their applications.

People punting on the River Cherwell, St Hilda’s College

Whilst information about the University of Oxford will be given, please note that the first and last talks will also focus on university in general and how to make informed decisions about the future.

The series involves a number of different online sessions, as follows:

Wednesday 18th June (16:00-16:45)- ‘How to choose a course and a university’

Thursday 19th June (19:00-20:00)- ‘An overview of the Oxford admissions process (for teachers)’

Wednesday 9th July 2025 (16:00-16:45)- ‘An overview of the Oxford admissions process (for students)’

Wednesday 16th July (16:00-16:45)- UCAS personal statement

These are all aimed at state school students (Years 10-13) and/or teachers, depending on the talk.

More information and the registration forms can be found here:
St Hilda’s College Outreach Webinars | St Hilda’s College Oxford

Please direct any questions towards outreach@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk.

Reminder: Modern Languages Open Day!

It’s not too late to register your place at our Modern Languages Open Day at the beautiful Examination Schools (75 – 81 High St, Oxford) on Saturday 17th May!

Modern Languages Open Day 2022
photo (c) John Cairns

This event is a fantastic opportunity for students who are interested in learning more about our language courses, or who are still considering their options, as all of our languages will be represented at this Open Day:

  • French
  • German*
  • Spanish
  • Italian*
  • Russian*
  • Portuguese*
  • Modern Greek*
  • Czech with Slovak*
  • Polish*.

*All of these languages can be studied here at Oxford from beginners’ level. 

Most of our Joint School degree combinations – languages with English, History, Philosophy etc. – will also be represented at the event.

Modern Languages Open Day 2022
photo (c) John Cairns

Our Modern Languages Open Day is aimed primarily at Year 12 students and their parents/guardians/teachers, but Year 11 students who are starting to think about university study are equally welcome to attend.

Modern Languages Open Day 2022
photo (c) John Cairns

The Open Day will offer an overview of our Modern Languages courses and a general Q&A for prospective students in the morning*, with individual language sessions and a Q&A session for parents’/guardians’/teachers in the afternoon. Tutors and current students from the Faculty will be available throughout the day to answer questions from prospective applicants and their companions.

*Please note that, due to restricted places, only one parent/guardian/teacher may accompany each student for the morning session.

You can view the event programme here.

Booking your place at this event is compulsory – you can register your attendance here. Bookings will close at midnight on 14th May 2025.

Any questions can be directed to schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.

We look forward to seeing lots of you in May and welcoming you to Oxford!