The School has been running a very successful Schools Essay Prize Competition for a number of years.
Now in its tenth year, the Modern Languages in School Prize has gradually developed from just including essays, to also welcoming video entries. This year, for the very first time, Key Stage 3 entries were also part of the competition as a new photo/caption competition was added. The results of this year's Modern Languages in Schools Prize 2023-2024 were revealed in an online ceremony on May 31st.
As in previous years, the response to the competition was great with schools from all over the UK entering. Head of School Dr Derek Hird, who was part of the prize giving ceremony, commended the wonderful and high-quality entries to this year’s competition as well as pointing out how encouraging it is to see the enthusiasm for language learning by young linguists. Overall, the judges were extremely impressed with this year’s submissions to the competition, which was very competitive.
We would like to thank all the students who have taken part in the competition for their hard work and the participants should feel very proud of themselves for the quality of work that they submitted. It was a strong competition and it was great to see so much linguistic talent. Praise and thanks is also due to all the teachers and staff who helped make the Modern Languages School Prize possible. Aside from it being a competition, the Prize should provide an opportunity for all the students taking part to have fun whilst practising their languages. Amidst the current pressures on language learning, it is inspiring to see the level of engagement within the entries and we hope that students will consider continuing their study of languages and cultures at higher education level.
Congratulation to all participants for their amazing work.
A-level Prize Results
We invited essay responses from students in years 12 and 13 on the following topic: 'Why should we still learn foreign languages when AI has improved so much?'. The essay had to be written in the target language and we accepted entries in Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Spanish and Italian.
Overall winner
Lola Bell from Orleans Park School for her essay in French.
Second place winner
Rahima Akhtar from Oldham Sixth Form College for her essay in Spanish.
Third place winner
Alexandra Kochman from Wycombe Abbey for her essay in German.
GCSE Prize Results
We invited video responses from students in year 10 and 11 on the following topic: 'The phrase “the world is your oyster” is particularly relevant when it comes to studying languages'. The 3-minute video could be made in English, the target language (Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Spanish or Italian) or as a mixture.
Winner for the KS4 video competition
Amona Petkova from Morecambe Bay Academy
In addition to our KS4 video competition, we had a new competition this year aimed at KS3 students. We invited photos from year 7, 8 and 9 illustrating the following topic 'Languages are great because they give opportunities for the future'. The photos which had to be their own pictures had to be accompanied by a short paragraph in English or one of our languages (Chinese (Mandarin), French, Italian, German and Spanish) explaining why it illustrates the topic.
Winner for the KS3 competition
Clara Birchall from Altrincham Grammar School
For more information on the Competition, please contact the School via email: languagesessayprize@lancaster.ac.uk