This term, the Spanish Department entered students at KS3, 4 and 5 to take part in the 2023 Anthea Bell Young Translators Prize, a competition run annually by The Queens College Translation Exchange, Oxford.  

The Translators Prizer, launched in 2020, was inspired by the life and work of the great translator Anthea Bell and aims to promote language learning across the UK and inspire creativity in the classroom. By providing students with the tools they need to bring translation to life, we hope to motivate more pupils to study modern foreign languages throughout their time at school and beyond. 

Teaching packs were available in five languages (French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish), covering all year groups at secondary school from age 11 to 18. These packs covered the creative translation of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The competition tasks took place just before Easter. 

Bringing more international culture into the classroom is a central aim of the prize, and so all passages – fiction and non-fiction – are rich in cultural content, and creativity in the translation is highly rewarded. 

The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators was created by Charlotte Ryland, founding Director of the Queen's College Translation Exchange. Charlotte had the pleasure of working with Anthea Bell for many years, and is proud to have founded this prize in her honour. 

This year Dilara from Year 10 achieved a Commendation for her translation of the “Mechanical Hare”. This is how we found out:

Thank you for submitting entries to the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators. We were delighted to receive over 15,000 submissions. 

A team of undergraduates and professional translators have judged entries to the competition. The judges were very impressed by the standard of entries, they read some excellent translations. I am delighted to be writing to inform you that Dilara from your school has been given a commendation. 

Congratulations! This is a fantastic achievement given the number and standard of entries received this year.  

Our other worthy winners for Spanish include Enid, Charlotte and Katherine – all Year 9.

Very well done to all.