EUC and DANK Haus Host 2024-25 Illinois High School Translation Competition Award Ceremony

On December 6, the European Union Center teamed up with the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center and the Consulate General of Germany in Chicago to celebrate the winners and honorable mentions of the 2024-25 Illinois High School Translation Competition at an award ceremony at the DANK Haus. After giving welcoming remarks, EUC Acting Director Jessica Greenberg and Deputy Consul General Dirk Schulz recognized each student’s accomplishment and handed out certificates and prizes.

This year’s translation competition featured seven languages: German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Swedish, and Ukrainian. Fifty-seven students from 30 schools in Illinois participated in the competition and translated an advanced-level text from one of the seven languages into English. The texts ranged from contemporary literature to interviews to essays. 

EUC Acting Director Jessica Greenberg and Deputy Consul General Dirk Schulz

Each language division had two judges, who reviewed the translations and gave them scores based on accuracy of vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and punctuation; appropriateness of style and tone to the topic and the target readership; and naturalness and flow.

Adam Tapper, winner of the German-English division

Joseph Calderon, Greek-English division honorable mention

Ori Hoch-Stein, winner of the Hebrew-English division

Briana Nuñez, Italian-English division honorable mention

The EUC is grateful for the support that teachers and administrators, civil society organizations, consulates, and public libraries provided. The competition also would not have been possible without our judges, many of whom have now served as judges for several years: Wiktoria Adamczyk (Polish), Anne-Marie Andreasson-Hogg (Swedish), Sofiya Asher (Ukrainian), Chad Eric Bergman (Swedish), Julie Bequette (German), Elisa Fiorini (German and Italian), Mina Giannoula (Greek), Roman Ivashkiv (Ukrainian), Dora Kourkoulou (Greek), Laura Lestani (Italian), Adi Mechany (Hebrew), Ido Telem (Hebrew), and Ewa Wierzynska (Polish).

Please see below for the list of the winners and honorable mentions. The EUC congratulates the students on their achievement and commends all of the participants in this year's translation competition for their interest in language study.

German-English Division

Winner: Adam Tapper, University of Chicago Laboratory High School

Honorable mention: Mel Miller, Barrington High School

Greek-English Division

Winner: Efthemia Manasses, Chicago Christian High School

Honorable mention: Joseph Calderon, Maine South High School

Hebrew-English Division

Winner: Ori Hoch-Stein, Niles North High School

Honorable mention: Aya Bareket, home-schooled

Italian-English Division

Winner: Matteo Atallah, Glenbrook North High School

Honorable mention: Briana Nuñez, Lane Tech College Prep High School

Polish-English Division*

Winner: Michael Marszewski, Whitney M. Young Magnet High School

Winner: Kamil Szumowski, Westmont High School

Swedish-English Division

Winner: Zoe Brask, Roald Amundsen High School

Honorable mention: Axel Hinz, Walter Payton College Preparatory High School

Ukrainian-English Division

Winner: Vasilisa Kyrychenko, Westmont High School

Honorable mention: Katherine Mikhnenko, Northside College Preparatory High School

*This year, the judges for the Polish-English division chose to award two first-place prizes. The students are listed in alphabetical order.