Last month, The Queen’s Translation Exchange (QTE) launched the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators for 2024-25. They sent out poetry teaching resource packs to over 1800 teachers to mark European Day of Languages (26 September) and International Translation Day (30 September).
Last year’s Anthea Bell Prize reached over 16,000 young people across the UK. This year, they’re aiming even higher! The competition window opens in February 2025, so there is still plenty of time to register and explore their excellent creative translation teaching resources.
For this year, the Translation Exchange has launched a new Russian-language strand of the Prize. The Russian-language teaching resources include an ab-initio resource designed for use by students and teachers with no previous experience of Russian. Read more about the launch of the Russian-language strand here.
QTE would love to hear from any Russian teachers interested to help them develop this strand across the year, as well as from any teachers who have used the new ab-initio resources and would be willing to share their experience. Feedback on any of the resources is also hugely appreciated. Please get in touch with the team at translation.exchange@queens.ox.ac.uk.
Tag Archives: Translation
Reminder – Stephen Spender Prize
Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation 2024 | 2 weeks left to submit!
Calling budding poetry translators of all ages! Just 2 weeks left to submit to the 2024 Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation. Translate ANY published poem from ANY language into English, and win publication and cash prizes!
The Prize welcomes entries from young people aged 18 and under from across the UK and Ireland, with categories for individual young people and teachers submitting on behalf of pupils, plus a special Portuguese Spotlight celebrating poetry from across the Lusophone world. Teachers from participating schools are also warmly invited to try their hand at poetry translation with the free-to-enter Teacher Laureate Prize, for the chance to win a subscription to Modern Poetry in Translation magazine and a creative translation workshop for their school.
This year, the Stephen Spender Trust is also delighted to extend the Open category to adults aged 18+ from all over the world, welcoming submissions from higher education students, academics and poetry and language lovers of all stripes.
The winning translations will be chosen by Taher Adel, Jennifer Wong and Keith Jarrett, with publication and cash prizes for the winners, plus special certificates for up to 30 Commendees in each age category. Outstanding Teacher Commendations will also be awarded to three individual teachers and/or language departments who show exceptional engagement with the prize.
For full details and a wealth of poetry translation resources, including the Stephen Spender Trust’s Guide to the Prize for Teachers, head to the Stephen Spender Prize homepage: www.stephen-spender.org/stephen-spender-prize/.
You can also follow the latest Prize news on social media, using the hashtags #SSTPoetryPrize2024 and #PortugueseSpotlight. (X: @StephenSpender | Facebook: @StephenSpenderTrust | Instagram: @stephenspendertrust)
Stephen Spender Prize 2024
Calling MFL, EAL and English teachers! Bring creative translation into the classroom this summer with the Stephen Spender Prize 2024…
The Stephen Spender Prize is an annual competition for poetry in translation, with strands for pupils, teachers and individual young people, as well as a special rotating Spotlight highlighting a language widely spoken in the UK. The competition is open for entries from 1 May to 31 July and is free to enter for all schools 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 are invited to 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. (X: @StephenSpender| Facebook: @StephenSpenderTrust | Instagram: @stephenspendertrust)
Here’s a list of the categories for 2024:
Ready to start planning and working on your entries? Head to our Guide for Teachers for all the key information about the prize at a glance, explore our Bank of Suggested Poems for poem inspiration, and find poetry workshops, worksheets, lesson plans and more in our Prize Resources hub.
To help you spread the word ahead of the launch, you can also download a free Stephen Spender Prize 2024 poster to display around your school, sixth form or university buildings.
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!
Big Think Competition
St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford is running its annual Big Think Competition!
Every year, The Big Think invites students across the UK to tackle one of our academics’ ‘big’ questions. These questions have been specially designed to challenge you beyond your normal school curriculum – helping you explore the latest breakthroughs in your subject and what it might be like to study it at university. Entering can also help boost your personal statement for university applications.
The competition opened on Friday 1 March. To enter, simply record a video of 5 minutes or less presenting your arguments and opinions. No need for fancy equipment or to show your face if you don’t want – feel free to get creative!
Winners will receive:
- £100 (First Prize)
- £50 (Second Prize)
- £35 (Subject Commendations)
Winners will also all be invited to Oxford for the day where they will get to discuss their entries with subject tutors, tour round with current students and enjoy lunch in our dining hall.
Big Think: Modern Languages
The ‘Big Think’ question for Modern Languages this year is:
Is there such a thing as an untranslatable word?
This question has been set by Dr Holly Langstaff, tutor in Modern Languages at St Edmund Hall. Holly researches and teaches French literature from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. She also runs several outreach initiatives, such as the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, the Think Like a Linguist project and Bristol Translates Summer School.
The competition will close Wednesday 1 May. To view the full list of questions and enter, visit seh.ac/bigthink. Good luck!
Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators
The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators is a creative translation competition for students aged 11-18 studying French, German, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish. The competition also runs from French into Welsh. The Prize is free to enter and open to all schools across the UK.
The 2023-24 prize launches today (20 September), when creative translation teaching packs will be shared with teachers in time for European Day of Languages on 26 September and International Translation Day on 30 September. These teaching packs are designed to help teachers bring creative translation into the MFL classroom as well as to help students prepare for the competition task.
Don’t worry if you have not yet registered! There is still plenty of time for teachers to do so as the competition itself will run over several weeks from 5 February to 28 March 2024. Area and national winners will be announced in May or June 2023. They will receive certificates and national winners will receive book prizes.
Over 15,000 students participated in the competition in 2023: see the list of winners and commendations in 2023. For those registered, teaching packs for poetry translation will be circulated today, fiction will follow after October half term, and non-fiction will be released in early January. Register to receive these resources and for updates about the competition task, click here.
There are a number of related activities run by the Queen’s Translation Exchange that teachers and pupils can participate in, details of which can be found here.
If you have any queries regarding the competition, please contact the Translation Exchange team at translation.exchange@queens.ox.ac.uk.
Stephen Spender Prize 2023
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!
International Book Club for Schools
In this week’s blog post, our colleagues from The Queen’s College Translation Exchange share details of their next International Book Club meeting – a really wonderful opportunity for school students to engage with literature from around the world!
The International Book Club for Schools is a chance for pupils in Years 11, 12 and 13/S4-6 to explore foreign language books which have been translated into English with other like-minded, literature-loving students. We meet once a term over Zoom to discuss a foreign language book in English translation. No knowledge of the original language is required to take part and newcomers are always welcome!
For students thinking they may like to study languages at university, there will also be a chance to hear more about what this would entail and to ask current undergraduates and admissions staff your questions. These meetings are also a perfect opportunity to explore beyond the school syllabus and to engage with some exciting literature in translation.
Our next session will be held on Tuesday 28th March at 7pm, in partnership with specialists in translated Arabic-language fiction, ArabLit, and the Oxford Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. We will be reading Out of Time, by Palestinian writer Samira Azzam, translated from Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman. These 31 short stories weave a rich and intricate tapestry of life in Palestine and Lebanon in the 1930s and 1940s, exploring how people from all walks of react to volatile circumstances and rapid historical change. Discussion in the session will focus on ‘Tears from a Glass Eye’, whilst also touching on ‘A Roc Flew Over Shahraban’ and ‘On the Road’. We also recommend that you read the introduction (along with as many of the other stories as you’d like to or have time for!).
To take part in the International Book Club, attendees will need to purchase and read a copy of the set book in advance of the session. Arablit have been kind enough to offer a discount for book club attendees: 20% off a paperback or an e-book for $1.79 (this is slightly under £1.50). The exclusive discount code will be shared with the students over email once they have registered for a place. If the financial situation of some students makes it impossible for them to purchase a copy of the book as discounted, please do drop us an email and we will do our best to work something out.
They may also like to make some notes as they go, although all discussion within the meeting will be informal. We will also share some materials in advance of the session, including some prompt questions to get them thinking and an interview with the book’s translator.
Students are able to register to attend our next book club meeting by completing this Google Form.
If you have any further questions about the Book Club, please let us know! You can drop us an email (translation.exchange@ox.ac.uk), or find us on Twitter (@TranslationExch).
International Book Club – AUTUMN MEETING
In this week’s blog post, our colleagues from The Queen’s College Translation Exchange share details of their next International Book Club meeting – a really wonderful opportunity for school students to engage with literature from around the world!
The International Book Club for Schools is a chance for sixth-form students to explore foreign language books which have been translated into English with other like-minded, literature-loving peers. We meet once a term to discuss a foreign language book in English translation. No knowledge of the original language is required to take part. The meetings take place over Microsoft Teams, and places are open to school pupils in Years 11, 12 and 13/S4-6. Newcomers are always very welcome!
Our next session will be held on Wednesday 30th November at 7pm, and we will be reading Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos, translated from Spanish by Rosalind Harvey. Set in the 1980s in Lagos de Moreno, Quesadillas offers a lively, cynical, and satirical take on Mexican politics and family life, in a world where the possible and the impossible seem to have switched places.
For anyone thinking of studying languages at university, there will also be a chance to hear more about what this would entail during a half-hour Q&A session with current Oxford University students, chaired by the Schools Liaison and Outreach Officer at the Queen’s College. These meetings are a perfect opportunity for students to explore books that aren’t on their school syllabus and to engage with some exciting literature in translation.
Students can sign up to attend the Book Club by completing this Google Form.
To take part in the International Book Club, students will need to purchase and read a copy of the set book in advance of the session. If a student’s financial situation makes it impossible to purchase a copy of the book, drop us an email (translation.exchange@queens.ox.ac.uk) and we will do our best to work something out.
If you have any questions about the Book Club, please do also get in touch at the email address above!
Prismatic Jane Eyre Schools Project: Resources
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.
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.
The Stephen Spender Prize 2022
The Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation, in association with The Guardian, is now open for entries. Anybody in the UK and Ireland can enter, regardless of age or linguistic skill. The Stephen Spender Trust’s (SST) Resources hub is full of virtual resources to make the prize accessible from home, as well as teaching packs to bring poetry translation into the classroom.
This year, the prize is more inclusive and vibrant than ever, from British Sign Language translation to new prizes for first-time entrants. SST’s virtual poetry booklets collect together poems in more than 17 languages.
SST Director Charlotte Ryland:
“Poetry translation is a perfect activity for these challenging times: it is a gentle and structured approach to creativity, without the intimidating blank page that can put off many would-be poets; it is an opportunity for parents and children to work together, in particular in families where more than one language is spoken; and it is a task that can be shared with peers and teachers.”
This year’s judges are acclaimed poets, translators and educators Khairani Barokka, Daljit Nagra and Samantha Schnee.
Closing date: 15 July 2022
- Categories: Open (adult), 18-and-under, 16-and-under, 14-and-under
- Top prize of £1,000
- All winning entries published in the 2022 Stephen Spender Prize booklet
- Special ‘Spotlight’ prize for translation from Romanian, judged by Gabi Reigh
Full details on the SST website. Good luck to all participants!