Oxford German Olympiad 2024:
KAFKAESQUE KREATURES
The winning entries
The results for our 12th Oxford German Olympiad are in! We received a record number of entries this year, and our panel of judges found it extremely hard to pick the winners from such a vast amount of excellent entries. A big thank you to all participants and their teachers.
Click on the names below to see the winning entries!
Note: some links lead to external webpages (YouTube etc.) or downloadable files.
Years 5 and 6 (age 9-11):
1. Paint or draw a picture of an imaginary pet OR a scary monster, labelling 12 parts.
Winner (joint): Margot Taylor
Winner (joint): Alyssa Prajapati
Winner (joint): Suvi Atherton
Winner (joint): Sophie Kelly
Winner (joint): Maja Bertolini
Winner (joint): Ravneet Gahir
Winner (joint): Jocelyn Allwin
Runner-up (joint): Jan Niezgoda
Runner-up (joint): Sarah XinFang Kang
Runner-up (joint): Badria Elmi
Runner-up (joint): Maria Aden
Runner-up (joint): Imogen Hunter
Highly Commended: James Wen
Highly Commended: entrant does not want to be named
Highly Commended: Siriya Paragon
Highly Commended: Kyra Sarin
Highly Commended: Ruben Bosse Chitty
Highly Commended: Gul Makal Ahamd
Highly Commended: Oseghale Ediale
Highly Commended: Kayan Mansoor
Commended: Isaac Sandhu
Commended: Elisa Makhina
Commended: Mariia Efremova
Commended: Ellla Huntley
Commended: Heenal Patel
Commended: Falak Panjabi
Commended: Omar Barakat
Commended: entrant does not want to be named
2. Draw a picture of part of your home from the perspective of an insect living there. Give your drawing a title indicating what creature it is and label 12 things it sees.
Winner: Elina Metsaranta
Runner-up: Aadya Karmokar
Highly Commended: Orla Luckhurst
Commended: Saoirse O'Riordan
3. Draw a picture of a wildlife sanctuary and label the animals.
Winner: Hera Skidelsky
Runner-up: Oscar Gabor
Highly Commended: entrant does not want to be named
Commended: entrant does not want to be named
Years 7 to 9 (age 11-14):
1. Write about a day in your life as a Käfer, Affe, Maulwurf, Maus or Fisch and illustrate it.
Winner (joint): Alexander Kuznetsov
Winner (joint): Amelia Mowla
Winner (joint): Jia Saidha
Winner (joint): Sylvia Thukral
Runner-up (joint): Manya Dasari
Runner-up (joint): Freya Borgmann
Runner-up (joint): Emilia von Wedel
Runner-up (joint): Penelope Hollows
2. Write an essay or create a video presentation on the topic "Wie kommunizieren Tiere/Vögel/Insekten?" You may focus on just one species or type of creature.
Winner: Fatimah Arshad
Runner-up: Anthony Hamilton
Commended: Eilidh Tang
3. Create a comic strip of an animal, bird, insect or fish having an unexpected adventure.
Winner (joint): Isha Reddi
Winner (joint): Aarna Tiwari
Runner-up (joint): Tom Charlton
Runner-up (joint): Mya Ishaq
Runner-up (joint): Emily Perry
Highly commended: Zoe Cannon
Highly commended: entrant does not want to be named
Highly commended: Madeleine Macaulay
Highly commended: Eleanor Skerrett
Highly commended: Keira Parker-Grange
Highly commended: Sreshta Sirinomula
Highly commended: Elspeth Richards
Highly commended: Suhana Joshi
Commended: Kiah Lawrence
Years 10 and 11 (age 14-16):
1. Write a story about an event or adventure that brings together a human and an animal and tell it in a comic strip.
Winner: Michelle Huang
Runner-up: Harmani Basi
2. Design a brochure for a study trip focused on the conservation of a particular species of animal.
Winner: Ashvin Aravindan
Runner-up: Yanxi Wang
3. Make a video entitled "Mein Odradek" showing and explaining how to make an imaginary animal or insect out of materials of your choice and showing how your Odradek moves about.
Winner: Carlo von der Tann
Runner-up: Shaurya Shukla
Years 12 and 13 (age 16-18):
1. Write a story from the perspective of a non-human creature, leaving your reader to work out what kind of creature it is.
Winner (joint): Georgie Watkin
Winner (joint): Olivia Burkhart
Runner-up: Eva Zielke
2. Read the ape Rotpeter's account of his capture (probably around 1910) in Kafka's story Bericht für eine Akademie and write an essay or story, or create a video presentation, on the topic "Affe und Mensch". You may focus this on any angle you wish, e.g. historical, biological, Darwinism, communication practices, conservation, a surreal event.
Winner: Nancy Robson
Runner-up: Georgia Haslam
3. "Allesfresser, vegetarische oder vegane Ernährung?" Plan a conference on this topic for 16-18 year olds including the advertisement and programme with keynote lectures and topics for roundtable discussion sessions.
Winner: Isobel Sigeti
Open Competition for Groups or Classes (2-4 participants)
1. Kafka's story Die Verwandlung starts with the travelling salesman Gregor waking up one morning to find that he's turned into a beetle. Create a video sketch featuring a transformation of one or more participants from human to non-human.
Winner: Flor Stochino, Phoebe Hardman
Runner-up: Sumaayah Amir, Mehreen Khan, Haania Khalid
Commended: Isabelle Beck, Lucia Okuda, Jamie Freemantle
2. Design a board game which includes several different non-human creatures and at least 200 words (these can be the game instructions or be part of activity cards etc.).
Winner: Maria Symeonidis, Christina Symeonidis
Runner-up: Ella-Mai Rodwell, Henry Macdonald
Commended: Josh Keay, Waheguru Singh, Oliver Ciechacki, Mustavi Emdad
3. Create a graphic novel featuring one or more non-human creatures and an unexpected plot twist.
Winner: Joshua Bernstein, Misha Yakovlev
Runner-up: Alessia Inall, Eirlys Kemp Davies, Megan Welchew, Kristina Sutton
Commended: Saadhana Kiritharan, Prionti Kazi Munia
Discover German - Taster Competition (1-3 participants with no prior experience of studying German)
Years 5 and 6: Draw 15 non-human creatures and label them in German.
Winner: Cailin Hobbs
Runner-up (joint): George Outtram
Runner-up (joint): Seth Baxter
Commended: Austin Dawson
Years 7 to 9: Create a poster with the heading "Schützt diese Tiere, Vögel und Insekten!" and show animals, birds and insects that need protecting, labelling each one.
Winner: Nidhi Reddy
Runner-up: Zahra Ahmed
Highly commended: Henni Allen
Commended: Rowan Allen
Commended: Dahlia Chadha
ROUND 2
Oxford German Network Task
TASK:
Entrants should choose one of the following two topics: 1) "Brauchen wir jemanden, an den wir glauben können?" Write an essay or create a video presentation or 2) "Mode für das Jahr 2025." Create a portfolio with text.
Winner: Suedaba Navid
Runner-up: Maria Symeonidis
Highly commended: Attila Szalai
Highly commended: Ella-Mai Rodwell
Commended: Henriette Hoegh
Commended: Robert Kaye
The White Rose Prize: Einen Brief schreiben
TASK:
"Write a letter in German telling the story of the White Rose resistance circle and/or its legacy (max. 300 words). The letter can be addressed to anyone you choose."
Winner: Laura Hart
Camden House Book Proposal
Task:
Submit a book proposal for a book that would fit the profile established by Camden House in German studies. In association with Camden House.
Winner: Katie Unwin
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!
The Oxford German Network is grateful for the support of the following:
Founding Partners:
Jesus College, Oxford
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Magdalen College School, Oxford
BMW Group Plant Oxford
The Oxford German Olympiad is generously supported by Lidl GB.
Donor of the German Classic Prize: Jonathan Gaisman QC
The Oxford German Network gratefully acknowledges
the generous support of ALL and ISMLA to the Oxford German Olympiad 2018
Additional prizes have been generously donated by the following:
Austrian Cultural Forum London
Blackwell UK Ltd.
Camden House (Boydell & Brewer)
Embassy of Switzerland in the United Kingdom
German Embassy London
Goethe Institut, London
Oxford University Press
Penguin Books
The Oxford German Network would like to thank the Bodleian Libraries for permission to use the Blackwell Hall in the Weston Library.