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We run annual competitions in French, German, and Spanish (detailed below).
French Flash Fiction Competition
We’re delighted to announce that submissions to our annual French Flash Fiction competition for secondary school students are now open! If you are learning French in Years 7-13, you are invited to send us a *very* short story written in French to be in with a chance of winning up to £100. We’re looking for a complete story, written in French, using no more than 100 words.
Our panel of academic judges will be assessing stories on their imagination and narrative flair, as well as linguistic accuracy. Your use of French 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. This year, in response to the amazing number of entries we received last year, we have divided the Year 7-11 category into two separate age groups.
The judges will award a top prize of £100 in each category, as well as prizes of £25 to a maximum of two runners up. The deadline for submitting your entry is 12 noon on 31 March 2023.
You can submit your entry at the links below — make sure you have selected the appropriate age category.
- Years 7-9 (ages 11-14)
- Years 10-11 (ages 14-16)
- Years 12-13 (ages 16-18)
On submitting, please read the submission instructions carefully as you may need to click a link in a verification email if this is the first time you are entering one of our competitions. Please note that students must enter the competition themselves: teachers cannot enter on their students’ behalf for reasons of GDPR compliance.
Results and winning stories will be published on our blog, Adventures on the Bookshelf. For some inspiration, have a look at last year’s winning entries.
If you have any questions, please email us at schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
OGN German Olympiad
The 2023 Oxford German Olympiad is now open for submissions!
The topic for this year’s Oxford German Olympiad, hosted by the Oxford German Network (OGN), is KOCHKUNST — BACKLUST — ESSKULTUR | The Art of Cooking, Joy of Baking and Culture of Eating.
The Olympiad invites school pupils from Years 5 and 6 to A level to create and submit an entry inspired by the theme through a wide variety of creative tasks. Please see the OGN website for more details and guidance about the competition.
The closing date for all entries is Thursday, 9 March 2023 at 12 noon. Results will be announced on the OGN website in May 2023. Winners will be contacted by e-mail.
OGN German Classic Essay Prize
This competition, hosted by the Oxford German Network, celebrates a different ‘German Classic’ each year by inviting sixth formers to write an essay inspired by their reading of the chosen text.
In 2021, the Oxford German Network invited students to read Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s captivating story Die Judenbuche published in 1842. Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, often called Droste by friends and family, was one of the most influential German-speaking female authors of the 19th century. Her work Die Judenbuche is sometimes considered to be the first murder mystery, containing elements of a crime thriller and gothic novel.
The deadline for submissions has now passed. For more information about the competition, click here.
If you have any questions, please email the Prize Coordinator, at germanclassic@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
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German Classic Conference — Tuesday 21 June 2022
In addition to the Classic Prize, the Oxford German Network were delighted to announce the launch of the first German Classic Conference for Year 12 students on the topic of Die Judenbuche by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. This half-day conference took place at Jesus College, Oxford and provided insights into the text, its key themes and translations in brief lectures and undergraduate-led discussions. Further information can be found here.
Spanish Flash Fiction Competition
We’re delighted to announce that submissions to our annual Spanish Flash Fiction competition for secondary school students are now open! If you are learning 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. We’re looking for a complete story, written in Spanish, using no more than 100 words.
Our panel of academic judges will be assessing stories on their imagination and narrative flair, as well as linguistic accuracy. Your use of 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. This year, in response to the amazing number of entries we received last year, we have divided the Year 7-11 category into two separate age groups.
The judges will award a top prize of £100 in each category, as well as prizes of £25 to a maximum of two runners up. The deadline for submitting your entry is 12 noon on 31 March 2023.
You can submit your entry at the links below — make sure you have selected the appropriate age category.
- Years 7-9 (ages 11-14)
- Years 10-11 (ages 14-16)
- Years 12-13 (ages 16-18)
On submitting, please read the submission instructions carefully as you may need to click a link in a verification email if this is the first time you are entering one of our competitions. Please note that students must enter the competition themselves: teachers cannot enter on their students’ behalf for reasons of GDPR compliance.
Results and winning stories will be published on our blog, Adventures on the Bookshelf. For some inspiration, have a look at last year’s winning entries.
If you have any questions, please email us at schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
Dante 700 Competition
In December 2021, the Sub-Faculty of Italian here at Oxford launched a new competition - the Dante700 Competition — in celebration of the 700th anniversary of the death of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Many students in the UK may never have heard of Dante or his most famous poem The Comedy. The competition aimed to introduce Dante and his work to students of all ages in a fun and engaging way.
Submissions closed in April 2022, and we received over 50 entries to the competition across the different themes and age categories. Our judges were extremely impressed with the hard work and creativity that went into every entry. The final list of winners and a virtual anthology containing their wonderfully creative submissions has been published on our blog here.
The competition’s resources are still freely accessible to pupils, parents/guardians, and teachers here.
