A student from The Sixth Form College Farnborough has earned a commendation in a prestigious national translation competition run by the University of Oxford. Tilly Mulhern received a South West Area commendation for French in the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators 2026, which drew more than 25,000 entrants from schools across the UK.
A panel of 36 judges, made up of professional literary translators and Oxford modern languages students, assessed over 5,400 entries across six languages including French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. The competition, now in its sixth year, is inspired by the work of Anthea Bell OBE, the celebrated translator of Asterix and authors such as Patrick Modiano and W.G. Sebald.
The achievement was published on the college’s website on 3 July 2026 and places Farnborough among hundreds of schools recognised for excellence in modern languages. The college offers A-Level modern language courses at its campus roughly eight miles from Fleet, providing a local option for students seeking post-16 study with a strong academic focus.
The prize was launched in 2020 by the Queen’s College Translation Exchange and has grown year on year, with the 2025 edition attracting more than 22,000 participants. National winners receive certificates and book prizes from publishers including Penguin Random House, Pushkin Press and Vintage.
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