We were delighted to hear that three of our Under 14 individual entries for the prestigious Stephen Spender Prize 2023 have all been commended on their translations!

Congratulations to Kajal P and Adeline G (translations from French to English) and Giuliana R (translation from Italian to English)!

Mr Piesse was also commended in the Teacher Laureate Category for his translation of the Colombian poem ‘ Poema de Amor by César Cano.

The Stephen Spender Prize is the leading annual prize for poetry in translation, with categories for pupils, teachers and individual young people in the UK and Ireland, as well as an Open category for adults from all over the world. The prize is run by the Stephen Spender Trust, which champions multilingualism and literary translation through a range of initiatives, including their Poetry in Translation Prize and Creative Translation in the Classroom programmes. 

For the competition, students were invited to translate into English (from any language) any published poem from any language, together with a commentary on the translation of 300 words. The Stephen Spender Trust are keen to celebrate poetry in all its forms and genres— so texts from rap, spoken word and slam poetry were all eligible for entry.