This term, the Spanish Department entered students at KS3, 4 and 5 to take part in the 2022 Anthea Bell Young Translators Prize. This competition is run annually by The Queens College Translation Exchange in Oxford.

The competition is inspired by the life and work of the great translator Anthea Bell. It aims to promote language learning across the UK and to inspire creativity in the classroom. By providing the 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 4 levels in 5 languages (French, German, Italian [new!], 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.

And this year the Greater London winners are:

Blackheath, with entries from Charlotte P, Enid O and Katherine B. in year 8