Tag Archives: Competitions

FRENCH FLASH FICTION 2023: The Highly Commended Entries (Y7-9)

July 26, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

Following the publication of the winning and runner up entries, we are excited to present the highly commended entries for the Year 7-9 category of this year’s French Flash Fiction competition!

A huge well done to all our highly commended entrants! Without further ado, allez, on y va!

Après avoir failli ne pas pouvoir quitter France, j’étais maintenant à l’arrière d’un camion. À l’étroit, écrasé et piégé avec une myriade d’autres, la seule odeur qui remplissait le peu d’air était celle du fromage et de la peur. À ma horreur, j’ai entendu les douaniers vérifier le camion. Il faisait trop sombre pour que je puisse les voir. Néanmoins, j’ai prié pour ne pas être découvert et que j’atteigne l’étranger avant d’expirer ici… ouf! Ils sont passés à autre chose et nous aussi, poursuivant notre périlleux voyage. Enfin, j’ai atteint les rayons des supermarchés anglais: Je suis un jambon.

– Amy Docherty, Year 9

une feuille de papier
Les gens me détestent. Je ne sais pas porquoi. Je suis juste moi-même. Ce n’est pas ma faute. Je ne peux pas m’en empêcher. Je n’étais pas censé être utilisé de cette façon. Les gens m’ont rendu comme ça. Et maintenant ils me détestent et me blâment. ce n’est pas de ma faute. tout est de leur faute. Je suis innocent. j’ai été lésé. j’aurai ma revanche. Ces enfants crieront. ils vont le regretter. Je suis juste un morceau de papier avec. mots que les enfants détestent.
les redoutables devoirs.

– Haalah Anwar, Year 9

La vie d’une baguette

Aie! Ça fait trop mal le mixeur! Mets moi sur la table et fais moi un massage! Je suis beaucoup plus longue qu’avant. Attend, non, ça brûle! Mais regarde mon bronzage, c’est magnifique! Qu’est ce que tu fais avec moi maintenant? Ooh la la, quel joli panier avec beaucoup d’amis baguettes! Salut, bonjour! Attends, tu vas où? Youpi, on m’achète moi aussi. On va où maintenant? Sur un vélo! Wouah, c’est trop cool! Salut la Tour Eiffel, bonjour le Louvre. Quel honneur, un pique-nique parisien! Un peu de Camembert et je suis prête à me sacrifier pour la France!

– Madeleine Waring, Year 8

Statues

Les ténèbres se rapprochent de nous en glissant comme un serpent à la chasse. La nuit nous a rattrapés, le sang rouge du jour laissant sa tache sur l’horizon avant de s’effacer. Je reste debout, rigide comme une pierre. Je n’ai pas peur, j’attends pouvoir bouger, me réveiller de mon état pétrifié. Enfin les chuchotements du jour cessent et j’entends le bruit des autres statues qui s’agitent autour de moi, vivant encore. La liberté de la nuit représente une petite victoire mais elle est contaminée par la conscience que le jour reviendra, que les statues seront des statues encore.

– Natasha Davis, Year 8

Il était une fois une lampe qui brillait toute la journée. Sa lumière aidait les gens à étudier et à travailler ; Le soir elle éclairait aussi dehors quand il faisait trop noir. Un jour, fatiguée, elle commença à clignoter et soudainement cessa de fonctionner. Un homme est venu la remplacer, mais personne ne l’a remarquée à part un petit garçon qui a souri et a dit merci. La lampe, épuisée, clignota une dernière fois, avant d’être rangée dans une boîte. Heureusement, elle allait être recyclée pour donner vie à une nouvelle lampe et apporter bonheur et joie à d’autres enfants.

– Daniel Lambin, Year 8

Piégée. De nouveau.

J’ai respiré l’air vieux de plusieurs décennies. Rien n’a changé. La fumée était piégée dans cette prison, les oiseaux pullulaient pour la liberté. Pinacles acérés ; fenêtres et portes rouillées et grinçantes; murs d’ivoire noirci; rideaux de soie déchirés. Portes dorées. Mes poumons, mon cœur, mes jambes, mes mains et mon cerveau savent que je ne devrais pas être ici. Je le savais, je savais que ça commencerait, recommencerait. La montée d’adrénaline, mon cerveau dansant dans le déni, mon cœur battant de regret, mes larmes remplies d’agonie, mes jambes verrouillées, ma gorge éclatant pour crier de douleur, ma tête flashant des images du moment où je t’ai perdu. Et je suis de nouveau pris au piège avec toi mon royaume.

– Mansavi Dixit, Year 8

C’était une journée venteuse. A travers l’herbe, 3 animaux se tenaient. Vous pouviez clairement dire que le cochon et le faucon se disputaient.
« Seuls les robots sont bons, » a déclaré le cochon.
« Vous vous trompez, » dit le faucon.
« bla, bla, bla,» dit le cochon.
« Qui soutenez-vous, loutre?» demanda le cochon.
« Je t’ai dit que je suis neutre!» cria la loutre.
Le bruit a attiré un humain qui a piétiné le faucon et a mangé le cochon.
Si la loutre n’avait pas décidé d’être neutre, le faucon et le cochon seraient-ils encore vivants?

– Joaquin Malaga Chavez, Year 8

Il y avait une fille qui habitait avec ses parents, qui étaient tout les temps très occupés. Quand la fille leur demandait de sortir, ils disaient qu’ils étaient pressés, et ils n’avaient jamais le temps pour rien….

“Pas aujourd’hui.”

“Peut-être le week-end.”

La petite fille restait triste, mais elle avait une idée. Ce soir, quand sa mère l’appela pour le diner, elle ne les rejoignit pas.

Pour le déjeuner, elle ne vint pas non plus. Ses parents etaitent étonnés.

“Qu’est ce qu’on va faire?”

“C’est simple. Donnez-moi de votre temps et je vous donnerai du mien,” dit la fille.

– Jude Shalaby, Year 9

Le ciel nocturne s’embrase de couleurs. Les flammes embrasent les arbres . L’odeur âcre du bois calciné emplit l’air, étouffent les poumons de nombeux pompiers. Un manteau de fumie recouvre la forêt. Toute vie s’étouffe lentement. Des nuages de fumées noires s’élèvent dans le ciel. Les arbres commencent à s’effriter sous le contact inéluctable du feu. C’est horrible à regarder mais je ne peux pas détacher mon regard. Les flammes crépitent de faim, son désir n’est jamais satsfait, Avec avidité, elles dévorent tout ce qu’elles voient. Rien n’est épargné. J’ai réalisé que tout cela était dû àla cigarelte allumée que j’ae jetée dans un buisson sons réfléchira

– Natasha Galvin, Year 9

100. Le standard d’un être humain. La supériorité est dans nos veines.

J’ai regardé ma valeur : 99. J’étais défectueux : un bug du logiciel. J’ai ressenti une douleur aiguë. J’ai levé les yeux. Tout le monde a souri avec le même sourire, avec les mêmes yeux sans ton, leurs 100 ans qui pendent mollement au-dessus. J’ai essayé à nouveau de voir des
figures tordues s’accrocher désespérément à leurs valeurs. Ils ont grincé, essayant d’enlever les chiffres des autres. Un squelette osseux s’est dirigé vers moi… J’ai chancelé de peur, mon sang bouillonnait en reconnaissance. Mon instinct s’est enfoncé. Courir……Pour survivre.

– Him Yee Lui, Year 9

Félicitations tout le monde!

Events and Competitions, Spanish

SPANISH FLASH FICTION 2023: THE WINNERS

July 12, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

We’re delighted to publish the winning and runner-up entries for this year’s Spanish Flash Fiction competition. We’ll also be publishing the highly commended entries for both French and Spanish over the coming weeks.

Thank you and well done to everyone who entered this year’s competition. The Spanish judging panel were extremely impressed with all the entries we received this year (just under 700), and commented the following:

We thoroughly enjoyed reading a diverse selection of short stories for this year’s Spanish Flash Fiction competition, and we want to thank all the participants who took the time to submit their entries. The remarkable level of creativity and storytelling ability demonstrated was truly impressive, making the task of selecting just twelve winning entries exceptionally challenging. The winning entries stood out to us for their fresh and inventive approaches, thought-provoking reflections, engaging writing styles, and their ability to explore different and often unusual perspectives.

Without further ado, here are the stories! We hope you enjoy reading them as much as the judges did.

YEARS 7-9

WINNER:

Playa al amanecer

Cuando sale el sol a primera hora de la mañana, pintando colores radiantes sobre un lienzo de rocío matutino, las olas me llaman. La arena blanca cruje bajo mis pies, mientras almejas y caracolas decoran la playa con dibujos irregulares. Las palmeras se mecen con la brisa californiana y su aire tropical contribuye a crear un ambiente maravilloso. Los cangrejos ermitaños corretean bajo los guijarros lisos. El rocío del mar me escuece los ojos. La espuma turquesa baña la orilla, cada nostálgica ola más alta que la anterior. Los rayos del sol me quemaban la espalda y el cuello, pero no me importaba. Estaba en casa.

– Ava Saunders, Year 9

RUNNER UP:

Ser un fantasma es agotador, especialmente cuando una persona famosa sabe de ti. La noche nunca es segura, muchos camarógrafos siempre quieren sacar fotos sobre la leyenda de la mujer fría. Odio el fin de mes, como el famoso profeta y algunos turistas suelen venir a la medianoche, entonces yo empiezo mi trabajo silencioso. No más. Después de diez horrosos años, quiero todos los visitos apartados.
“¡Váis a ver la mujer fría en cuatro minutos!” La profeta exclama, ignorar de mí detrás su cuerpo. Rápidamente, levanto la mujer telepáticamente y mi furia se transforma ella en hielo.
Que lástima.

– Lily Messer, Year 9

YEARS 10-11

WINNER:

El Pavo Real

El pavo real extiende su cola tornasolada — sus plumas vistosas fulgurando bajo el foco celestial del sol. Camina dándose aires hacia mí, plenamente consciente de que llama la atención.

Se queda quieto. Sus plumas, sin embargo, todavía se balancean ligeramente. Las manchas azules las adornan como ojos sonrientes. Me guiñan con arrogancia.

Pero mientras se me acerca cautelosamente, veo que las estrellas se atenúan en sus ojos. El alguna vez glorioso prisionero mira solemnemente a través de los barrotes de su celda. Una angosta pasarela. Suavemente su cola tornasolada roza el suelo. Tal vez el desearía no ser tan impresionante.

– Ella Needham, Year 10

RUNNER UP:

En medio del desierto, solía haber un lagarto solitario. Lejos de la sociedad, lejos de todo, el gecko solo quería un amigo, o incluso un grano de arena que podría mostrarle atención. Sin embargo, durante muchos días el pobre lagarto no vio a nadie. Empezaba a perder toda esperanza cuando de repente, vio un pájaro. ¡Qué alegría sintió!

Le vino un golpe de realidad al lagarto. Su alegría se distorsionó rápidamente al comprender las intenciones del pájaro. Su única esperanza de hacer un amigo se desvaneció. – junto con él mismo.

– Shoshi Ellituv, Year 11

YEARS 12-13

WINNER:

Paleta De Colores

Yo era su paleta de colores. Me hacía llorar. Laqueaba su lienzo con mis
lágrimas blancas nacaradas. Me golpeaba. Lavanda florecía en mi piel. Sus pigmentos de color morado lúgubre igual a mis moretones. Me cortaba. Los ojos de sus personajes eran profundizados por el rojo ardiente de mi sangre. El matiz de fuego se filtraba de los barrancos enormes de mi carne. Él era el maestro de mi negrura, mi vacío, que el usaba para perfilar sus creaciones. Con mis colores, sus obras maestras eran diseñadas. Y yo era su paleta de colores que le ayudaba a crearlas.

– Freya Nott, Year 12

RUNNER UP:

El Silencio Tibio

Una brisa caliente flotó por encima del lago, haciendo ondas en el agua. Acarició los árboles, envió burbujas a la superficie, lo que perturbó el silencio e hizo que las algas pálidas se arremolinasen en las profundidades. Pero la disrupción verdadera empezó con la llegada de la excavadora, acercándose a la orilla, y entonces sumergiéndose. Como un monstruo surgió una enorme masa de lodo, sus ojos saltones. Fue enguirnaldada de plantas, empapada con aceite. La fiera subió en la cuchara, pero de repente, paró, y fue vuelta a las aguas. ‘¿Qué pasa, querida? ¿A ti no te gusta mi sopa?’

– Laria Campbell, Year 12

¡Felicidades a todos los ganadores!

Events and Competitions, French

FRENCH FLASH FICTION 2023: THE WINNERS

July 5, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

We’re delighted to publish the winning and runner-up entries for this year’s French Flash Fiction competition. We’ll be publishing the winning entries for Spanish, as well as the highly commended entries for both languages in each age category over the coming weeks.

Thank you and well done to everyone who entered. The French judging panel were extremely impressed with all the entries we received this year (over 950 of them!), and commented the following about the competition:

It has been an honour and a delight to judge the entries for the 2023 Flash Fiction competition. With stories of just 100 words, you have shown us the world through the eyes of raindrops, snowflakes, trees, planets, and even a smuggled leg of ham! We read about climate change, flânerie, political and historical events, exile, writer’s block, gender identity, and travelled to other times and worlds. Along the way, we met a life-saving pony, a winter-loving duck, a conscientious cannibal, and many other fascinating characters that ignited our imagination. We would like to thank all participants and congratulate you on producing such wonderfully creative, inspiring, and original texts. Félicitations !

Without further ado, here are the stories! We hope you enjoy reading them as much as the judges did.

YEARS 7-9

WINNER:

Comment je suis devenue vétérinaire

Un matin, j’entendais mon père tousser: “Ah, j’ai un chat dans la gorge!”… “Comment?”

Catastrophe, j’étais en retard et mangeais rapidement; ma mère me dis “Ne mange pas comme un cochon!”… “Comment?”

Dans le métro, un monsieur se plaignait: “On est serré comme des sardines!”… “Comment?”

A l’école, les mathématiques étaient trop difficiles, Jeanne se moquait de moi: “tu fais des yeux de merlan frit” … “Comment?”.

Quand la maîtresse est sortie, Paul s’exclamait: “Quand le chat n’est pas la, les souris dancent!”… “Comment?”

Tous ces animaux en souffrance, je devais agir.

– Amy Waterworth, Year 8

RUNNER UP:

Venise. Le soleil radieux plongeait ses couleurs dans le canal. Un jeune garçon se promenait sur les quais, faisant sauter des pierres dans l’eau opaque. Il vit une ombre allongée sur le sol, il leva les yeux vers le ciel. Il lève les yeux au ciel et ne voit rien. Il suivit l’ombre mystérieuse à travers les rues lugubres et isolées, seules quelques étoiles étaient éparpillées dans le crépuscule. Soudain, son pied se coinça dans les planches tordues du canal. Son corps commença à devenir gris corail. On entendit des cris lointains tandis qu’il s’enfonçait dans les profondeurs de Venise.

– Mahmoodur Rahman, Year 7

YEARS 10-11

WINNER:

Un homme se promenait tranquillement, lorsque soudainement, il s’arrête pour regarder le ciel! Un autre homme, qui passait par là, s’arrête et commence aussi à regarder le ciel. Cependant, il ne voit rien de passionnant. Un troisième homme s’arrête pour observer le ciel comme les deux autres. Bientôt, la rue est bondée de monde observant le ciel avec curiosité. Finalement, le premier homme baisse la tête et se retourne étonné de voir la foule derrière lui, puis il rentre chez lui tout confus. Personne ne sait qu’il avait simplement un saignement du nez et ne regardait absolument rien du tout!

– Emily Yu, Year 10

RUNNER UP:

La Tempête

Viens, trouve-moi, je te crie par-dessus le bruit.

La pluie tombe et le vent hurle comme s’il souffrait – une tempête implacable me bombardant de mots que je ne comprends pas, étouffant ma lamentation.

Où es-tu? je beugle. Reviens.

Je sais que je crie en vain, qu’il n’y a pas de retour. Cette connaissance est comme un raz-de-marée montant en moi. Il menace de se briser, me noyant dans le rugissement et le fracas des vagues. M’engloutissant de mots que je ne comprends pas.

Sauve-moi.

Mon plaidoyer s’ajoute simplement au chœur de mots que je ne comprends pas.

– Amelia Williams, Year 10

YEARS 12-13

WINNER:

Les Huppes d’Afrique du Nord

J’aime voler.

Comment les cieux s’ouvrent, et les nuages nacrés se séparent. Nous, les huppes, migrions ensemble, vers le Nord. Là, nous avons trouvé un nouveau pays de volailles – toutes bleues, blanches et rouges – les coqs gaulois.

“Bienvenue à la liberté! Mais observez ces quelques règles,” nous ont-ils dit. “Ne chantez pas, criez cocorico comme nous.” Les coqs se pressaient autour de nous. “Ne volez pas! Pavanez-vous sur le sol comme nous.” “Et toi, Aïcha,” un coq se tournait vers moi, “Arrache ta huppe. Maintenant. Ainsi tu seras libre. C’est cela la liberté.”

“Comprends-tu?”

– Hanan Moyeed, Year 12

RUNNER UP:

La Petite Danseuse

Moulée en bronze, ma tête fixée vers le haut, je regardele plafond. Ma posture rigide est ancrée à observer par tous. Le Musée d’Orsay est ma maison. Ma cage de verre empêche les murmures du monde de me chatouiller les oreilles. Les touristes me contemplent profondément. Mais ils ne connaissent pas mon histoire. J’étais autrefois vivante, avec un sens à communiquer et des moyens de se déplacer. Maintenant, il ne reste qu’un morceau d’être dans cette froide statue. Mes pensées fugaces sont enfermées à jamais dans les murs solides de métal. Je suis la petite danseuse de Degas.

– Annabel McDolphin, Year 12

Félicitations à tous nos gagnants!

Events and Competitions, French, Spanish

2023 Flash Fiction Results

June 21, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

In December 2022, we launched our annual Flash Fiction competitions, which closed at the end of March. The competitions were open to students in Years 7 to 13, who were tasked with writing a short story of no more than 100 words in French and/or Spanish.

We had an incredible response, with entries coming in from the UK and beyond! In total, we received over 1600 submissions across the two languages!

We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition and commend you all for your hard work and creativity in writing a piece of fiction in a different language. This is a challenging exercise, and a significant achievement – congratulations all!

We are delighted to be able to announce the winners, runners up, and highly commended entries for each language below:

French

In the Years 7-9 category, the winner is Amy Waterworth. The runners-up are Mahmoodur Rahman and Emily Osmundsen.

The judges also highly commended Amy Docherty, Halaah Anwar, Madeleine Waring, Natasha Davis, Daniel Lambin, Manasvi Dixit, Joaquin Malaga Chavez, Jude Shalaby, Natasha Galvin, and Him Yee Lui.

In the Years 10-11 category, the winner is Emily Yu. The runner ups are Amelia Williams and Sana Deshpande.

The judges also highly commended Jiali Hicks, Anna Li, Jerome Turenne-Rogers, Anisa Begum, Maryam Khan, Sara Bjelanovic, Hugo Cooper-Fogarty, Anonymous, Sophia Thomas, and Arya Dorjee.

In the Years 12-13 category, the winner is Hanan Moyeed. The runner ups are Annabel McGolpin and Darren Lee.

The judges also highly commended Sophie Shen, Niall Slack, Ishana Sonnar, Maliha Uddin, Alexandra Kozlova, Odette Mead, Hugo Scherzer-Facchini, and Daria Knurenko.

The French judging panel were very impressed with all of the submitted stories, and commented the following:

It has been an honour and a delight to judge the entries for the 2023 Flash Fiction competition. With stories of just 100 words, you have shown us the world through the eyes of raindrops, snowflakes, trees, planets, and even a smuggled leg of ham! We read about climate change, flânerie, political and historical events, exile, writer’s block, gender identity, and travelled to other times and worlds. Along the way, we met a life-saving pony, a winter-loving duck, a conscientious cannibal, and many other fascinating characters that ignited our imagination. We would like to thank all participants and congratulate you on producing such wonderfully creative, inspiring, and original texts. Félicitations !

Spanish

In the Years 7-9 category, the winner is Ava Saunders. The runner up is Lily Messer.

The judges also highly commended Carlotta Elliot, Daisy Apfel, Dhritya Sagin, Sona Patel, Saanvi Dwivedi, Pooja Vamadevan, Niamh Daniels, Anonymous, and Klara Andonegui.

In the Years 10-11 category, the winner is Ella Needham. The runner up is Shoshi Ellituv. The judges also highly commended Amelie Huntley, Carlotta Gray, Dingding Zhou, Ella So, Ryan Cheung, Rhea Sandher, Prithika Anbezhil, Mustafa Ayub, Mia White, and Khanh Linh Nguyen.

In the Years 12-13 category, the winner is Freya Nott. The runner up is Laria Campbell.

The judges also highly commended Anonymous, Romilly de Silva, Meghan Henderson, Anonymous, Lara Horsely, Charlie Crookes, Edith Scott, Jack Hussey, Josiane Kammani, and Eva Murphy.

Our Spanish judging panel have also been extremely impressed with this year’s entries, and commented the following:

We thoroughly enjoyed reading a diverse selection of short stories for this year’s Spanish Flash Fiction competition, and we want to thank all the participants who took the time to submit their entries. The remarkable level of creativity and storytelling ability demonstrated was truly impressive, making the task of selecting just twelve winning entries exceptionally challenging. The winning entries stood out to us for their fresh and inventive approaches, thought-provoking reflections, engaging writing styles, and their ability to explore different and often unusual perspectives.

Huge congratulations everyone – you should be very proud of your achievement!

Events and Competitions, German, German Literature, Literature, Resources for language study

A German Classic 2023 – Kafka’s Der Heizer

June 14, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

The Oxford German Network are delighted to announce the launch of the 2023 edition of ‘A German Classic’ – Oxford’s essay competition for sixth-form students. This year we invite you to read Franz Kafka’s Der Heizer (1912/13).

It is the first chapter of the unfinished novel Der Verschollene (‘The Man Who Disappeared’), narrating the beginning of the story about 17-year-old Karl Rossmann. The story addresses themes including family and friendship, migration, identity and encounters with the foreign, be it a person of a different nationality, social status or gender. It is a story about growing up, finding one’s way in a foreign land, and personal (in)stability. The experiences Kafka evokes for the reader with his narratives are so distinctive that they have given rise to the word ‘Kafkaesque’. Get a sense of what it means by studying Der Heizer in the original – one of the iconic works of world literature!

ELIGIBILITY

Entrants must fulfil the following requirements as of 8 September 2023:

be beginning their final year of full-time study at a secondary school in the UK (upper-sixth form, Year 13 or S6 in Scotland);
be between the ages of 16 and 18;
hold a GCSE, IGCSE or equivalent qualification in German offered in the UK, or have at least an equivalent knowledge of German, as confirmed by their teacher;
be resident in the United Kingdom.

Entrants are not expected to have prior experience of studying German literature.

PRIZES

Up to three prizes will be awarded: a first prize of £500, a second prize of £300, and a third prize of £100. Prizes will only be awarded if work is of sufficient merit. All entrants will receive a Prize Certificate or a Certificate of Participation. Results will be announced in early October 2023.

STUDY PACKS

Sign up here by 5pm on Friday 30 June 2023 to receive free physical copies of the German original and an English translation of Kafka’s novel Der Verschollene, the first chapter of which is the set text of the competition. The website will also give you access to a set of free multimedia resources and essay writing guidelines created and curated by us especially for this competition. All physical study materials will be dispatched in early July.

For further information, please have a look on our website.

If you have any questions, please email the Prize Coordinator at germanclassic@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.

Events and Competitions, Resources for language study, Translation

Stephen Spender Prize 2023

May 24, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

This week, we pass over to our friends at the Stephen Spender Trust to tell us about their 2023 prize for poetry in translation.

Translate ANY poem from ANY language into English, and win publication and cash prizes! Language lovers and budding poets of all ages are warmly invited to take part in the Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation, open to adults aged 19+ from all over the world, as well as to individual young people and school pupils in the UK and Ireland and students at British Schools Overseas.

For 2023 there will also be a special language focus with the Ukrainian Spotlight strand, open to all young people in the UK and Ireland aged 18 and under.

The deadline to submit entries is 14th July.

Details:

Entrants are invited to submit an English translation of a published poem from any language, ancient or modern, together with a commentary of no more than 300 words. The translation should be max. 60 lines (extracts are accepted). All forms and genres are welcome, including texts from rap, spoken word and slam poetry. We also welcome translations from sign language.

Prize strands:

International Open Entry (NEW FOR 2023) – For adults aged 19+ from all over the world.
Individual Youth Entry – For individual young people in the UK and Ireland or attending British schools overseas. Two age categories: 14-and-under; 18-and-under.
Schools Laureate Prize (NEW FOR 2023) – For teachers submitting on behalf of their students, open to schools in the UK and Ireland and British schools overseas. Four categories for pupils from KS1 to KS5.
Ukrainian Spotlight (NEW FOR 2023) – For young people in the UK and Ireland or at British schools overseas. Entries can be submitted individually or by teachers on behalf of students. Three age categories: KS1-2, KS3-4 and KS5.
Teacher Laureate Prize (NEW FOR 2023) – Free to enter for all teachers at schools that have entered pupils for the Schools Laureate or Ukrainian Spotlight strands.

Judges:

Open category: Taher Adel, Jennifer Wong, Samantha Schnee
Youth categories (Individual Youth Entry and Schools Laureate Prize): Keith Jarrett
Ukrainian Spotlight: Nina Murray

Prizes:

Open Entry: £1000 (1st), £500 (2nd), £250 (3rd)
Individual Youth Entry, Schools Laureate Prize and Ukrainian Spotlight: Cash prizes of up to £100 for the winners in each age category.
Teacher Laureate Prize: Annual print subscription to Modern Poetry in Translation for the winning teacher, plus a Stephen Spender Prize workshop for their school during the next academic year.

All winners will have their translations published in our 2023 prize booklet and will be invited to participate in our livestreamed awards ceremony in the autumn. The winner of the Open category will also be published in Modern Poetry in Translation.

In each age category we will additionally reward three Highly Commended entrants and up to 30 Commendees, as well as three special First-Time Entrant Commendations in the Open category.

Entry Fee:

Open category: £10 per translated poem, or £5 per additional poem in the same submission.
Youth and teacher categories: Free

Further details:

Full information on how to enter can be found on the Stephen Spender Prize homepage and the different category subpages.

For a wealth of poetry translation inspiration, including advice for those trying poetry translation for the first-time, explore our Guide to Poetry Translation for Newcomers, the archive of tutorials and testimonials on the Stephen Spender Trust YouTube channel, and the multilingual bank of suggested poems for translation in our Prize Resources hub.

Good luck to all entrants!

Events and Competitions, French, Spanish

LAST CHANCE TO ENTER OUR FLASH FICTION COMPETITIONS!

March 22, 2023 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

With just over one week to go until the deadline, there’s still a chance to enter our Flash Fiction Competitions in French and/or Spanish – don’t miss out on your chance to win £100! A reminder of the competition details and how you can enter can be found below…

What is Flash Fiction?

We’re looking for a complete story, written in French or Spanish, using no more than 100 words.

What are the judges looking for?

Our judging panel of academics will be looking for imagination and narrative flair, as well as linguistic ability and accuracy. Your use of French or Spanish will be considered in the context of your age and year group: in other words, we will not expect younger pupils to compete against older pupils linguistically. For inspiration, you can read last year’s winning entries for French here, and for Spanish here.

What do I win?

The judges will award a top prize of £100, as well as prizes of £25 to a maximum of two runners up, in each category. Certificates will also be awarded to pupils who have been highly commended by our judges. Results as well as the winning, runner up, and highly commended stories will be published on this blog, if entrants give us permission to do so.

How do I enter?

You can submit your story via our online forms at the links below. This year, in response to the amazing number of entries we received last year, we have expanded the competition to include a third age category!

French	Spanish
Years 7-9 (ages 11-14)	Years 7-9 (ages 11-14)
Years 10-11 (ages 14-16)	Years 10-11 (ages 14-16)
Years 12-13 (ages 16-18)	Years 12-13 (ages 16-18)

Click on the links to be taken to the correct submission form for your age/year group.

You may only submit one story per language but you are welcome to submit one story in French AND one story in Spanish if you would like to. Your submission should be uploaded as a Word document or PDF.

The deadline for submissions is noon on Friday 31st March 2023.

Please note that, because of GDPR, teachers cannot enter on their students’ behalf: students must submit their entries themselves.

If you have any questions, please email us at schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.

Bonne chance à tous! ¡Buena suerte a todos!

Events and Competitions, French, Spanish

FRENCH AND SPANISH FLASH FICTION COMPETITIONS OPEN!

January 4, 2023 Schools Liaison 3 Comments

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you had a wonderful and restful break over the festive period.

We’re delighted to announce the return of our ever-popular French and Spanish Flash Fiction competitions for secondary school pupils. If you are learning French and/or Spanish in Years 7-13, you are invited to send us a *very* short story to be in with a chance of winning up to £100. Read on to find out more…

What is Flash Fiction?

We’re looking for a complete story, written in French or Spanish, using no more than 100 words.

Did you know that the shortest story in Spanish is only seven words long?

Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí.
(When he woke up, the dinosaur was still there.)
– Augusto Monterroso Bonilla (1921-2003)

What are the judges looking for?

What do I win?

How do I enter?

French	Spanish
Years 7-9 (ages 11-14)	Years 7-9 (ages 11-14)
Years 10-11 (ages 14-16)	Years 10-11 (ages 14-16)
Years 12-13 (ages 16-18)	Years 12-13 (ages 16-18)

Click on the links to be taken to the correct submission form for your age/year group.

The deadline for submissions is noon on Friday 31st March 2023.

Please note that, because of GDPR, teachers cannot enter on their students’ behalf: students must submit their entries themselves.

If you have any questions, please email us at schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.

Bonne chance à tous! ¡Buena suerte a todos!

Events and Competitions, Italian, Italian Literature

Dante700 Competition – Winners announced!

October 26, 2022 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

2021 marked the 700^th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. To honour this occasion, colleagues in the Sub-Faculty of Italian set up the University of Oxford’s Dante700 Competition. In its aim to introduce Dante and his work to students of all ages in a fun and engaging way, the competition invited primary and secondary school pupils to submit a visual response, a poem, or prose piece to a given canto or to Dante’s Commedia as a whole.

The Dante700 Competition ran from December 2021 until April 2022

Our judges were extremely impressed with the hard work and creativity that went into every entry. On behalf of the judging panel, Professor Simon Gilson commented the following about all of the submissions to the competition:

We had a wonderfully rich array of entries but were particularly impressed by the winning students’ engagement with Dante. It was really remarkable to see the variety and quality of the students’ own creative responses across a range of media, in prose, verse, and various art forms. I learned a great deal from how their responses reframed Dante. The competition truly helped us to see how perennially fascinating Dante’s works, ideas and images remain for students of all ages today.

We received over 50 submissions to the competition across the different themes and age categories, from which the following pupils were selected as winners, receiving certificates as well as exclusive prizes kindly supported by Moleskine:

Ulysses – KS2/3 (age 7-14):
Matilda White, Year 6, Birch Church of England Primary School

Lucifer – KS3/4 (age 11-16):
Jack Cotton, Year 9, Bexley Grammar School
Gabriella Akanbi, Year 8, Bexley Grammar School
Selasi Amenyo, Year 8, Bexley Grammar School
Holly Filer, Year 8, Bexley Grammar School
Tarin Houston, Year 9, Bexley Grammar School

Limbo – KS4/5 (age 15-18):
Freddy Chelsom, Year 12, Abingdon School

Open response (all ages):
Zara Jessa, Year 11, Nottingham High School
Eden Murphy, Year 10, James Allen’s Girls’ School
Cara Bossom, Year 12, Francis Holland School

To celebrate our competition winners, we were delighted to hold a small online prize giving ceremony on Tuesday 4October via Microsoft Teams. Led by Professor Gilson and joined by teachers and parents, the event provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase the diverse winning entries and talk to the students about what attracted them to the competition and to Dante’s writings more generally.

In addition to the online event, Dr Caroline Dormor has put together a fantastic virtual anthology of the winning submissions along with the judges’ comments which can be viewed here. Hopefully you will agree that the range of responses to and interpretations of Dante’s writings is truly remarkable!

Huge congratulations to all our winners!

Please note that all educational resources from the competition can still be accessed here.

Events and Competitions, Multilingualism, Translation

Prismatic Jane Eyre Schools Project: Resources

September 21, 2022 Schools Liaison Leave a comment

The Prismatic Jane Eyre Schools Project (2021–2022) has now come to a close. This was an AHRC-funded joint project between the University of Oxford and the Stephen Spender Trust.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Jane-eyre-1024x244.jpg — Image taken from the Stephen Spender Trust website

On 30 September 2021 — International Translation Day — the nationwide competition was launched. Entrants were asked to compose a poem in a language other than English inspired by a selected passage from Jane Eyre. The competition accepted submissions in any language, and 136 entries were received in 26 languages — including Sindarin, a form of Elvish devised by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Up to 100 entries to the competition have been included in an anthology, which will be published online and in print in September 2022.

The Project drew on translation as an educational tool to explore how Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel has been translated since its publication in 1847 and how its plots and themes can be used as a springboard for new creative works. It comprised of three core activities: a series of translation workshops; a nation-wide translation competition (as mentioned above); and a bank of resources for teachers and pupils.

The bank of resources aims to allow more young people to enjoy creative translation activities based on Jane Eyre. Initially developed to support entries to the competition, these resources now provide a lasting legacy for the Project.

Three types of resources are available:

A handout that outlines an approach to creating a poem from a passage of prose (all languages)
PowerPoint workshops for teachers to deliver in school with accompanying worksheets (Arabic, French, Polish, Spanish)
Pupil-led activity worksheets (Arabic, French, Polish, Spanish).

The Project’s resources are available here and here. To accompany these resources, we’ve created a short video explaining what creative translation is, and why it’s important. The video is available to view below.

Prismatic Jane Eyre: Translators’ Video

A blog for students and teachers of Years 11 to 13, and anyone else with an interest in Modern Foreign Languages and Cultures, written by the staff and students of Oxford University. Updated every Wednesday!