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We run annual competitions in French, German, and Spanish (detailed below).
French Flash Fiction Competition
Our annual French Flash Fiction competition invites secondary school students learning French to send us a *very* short story written in French to be in with a chance of winning up to £100. We look for a complete story using no more than 100 words.
Our panel of academic judges assess stories on their imagination and narrative flair, as well as linguistic accuracy. Your use of French is considered in the context of your age and year group: in other words, we don’t expect younger pupils to compete against older pupils linguistically. The judges award a top prize of £100 in each category, as well as prizes of £25 to a maximum of two runners up. Please note that the submission deadline has now passed and the competition is now closed.
The results of the 2023 competition have been sent to all entrants via email and announced on our blog, Adventures on the Bookshelf, and the winning entries will be published soon.
If you have any questions, please email us at schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
OGN German Olympiad
The topic for this year’s Oxford German Olympiad, hosted by the Oxford German Network (OGN), was 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 2023 Oxford German Olympiad is now closed. Results will be announced on the OGN website in June 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.
This year, the Oxford German Network invited students 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 deadline for submissions is Friday 8 September at 5pm. 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.
Spanish Flash Fiction Competition
Our annual Spanish Flash Fiction competition invites secondary school students learning Spanish to send us a *very* short story to be in with a chance of winning up to £100. We look for a complete story, using no more than 100 words.
Our panel of academic judges assess stories on their imagination and narrative flair, as well as linguistic accuracy. Your use of Spanish is considered in the context of your age and year group: in other words, we don’t expect younger pupils to compete against older pupils linguistically. The judges award a top prize of £100 in each category, as well as prizes of £25 to a maximum of two runners up. Please note that the submission deadline has now passed and the competition is now closed.
The results of the 2023 competition have been sent to all entrants via email and announced on our blog, Adventures on the Bookshelf, and the winning entries will be published soon.
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.
