The European Union Center is excited to announce the results of the 2024-25 Illinois High School Translation Competition. Fifty-seven students from 30 schools in Illinois participated in the competition and translated an advanced-level text from German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Swedish, or Ukrainian into English. The EU Center would like to commend all of the participants for their interest in language study and translation and thank the judges who scored the submissions: 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).

Congratulations to the following students who received first place and honorable mentions! The staff at the European Union Center and the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, along with Deputy Consul General of Germany in Chicago, Dirk Schulz, look forward to celebrating your achievement at an award ceremony at the DANK Haus in Chicago on Friday, December 6, 2024.

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.