The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Latin Translation Contest draws from high schools and universities across North America. Twenty-seven schools entered the Secondary Division this year; one hundred and sixty-seven translations were submitted at the Intermediate level alone. The competition is judged blind, using AP-style translation scoring by chunk — each section of the passage assessed on its own terms, without knowledge of whose paper is under review. There is no name on the page, no institution identified. The Latin either works or it does not, and the judges know the difference. Five Emerson Latin students placed across two levels.
Jonghyun Seo
Susie Yang
Victoria Gyuyeon Park placed in the Advanced division, which presents a more demanding Latin passage than the Intermediate — drawn from authors and texts that require a reader already at home in the language, not merely proficient in it. To place in the Advanced division is to have demonstrated a quality of Latin that goes beyond the level most secondary students reach. The Intermediate results are formidable in their own right: first place and three second-place finishes from a single academy, out of 167 submissions, graded without any knowledge of origin.
Blind grading is worth dwelling on, because it removes the one variable that makes other kinds of academic recognition ambiguous. A translation contest in which the judges do not know whose paper they are reading cannot be won by reputation, by institution, or by anything other than the Latin on the page. When four of five placing students finish first or second in that environment, the conclusion is straightforward: the Latin on those pages was better than the Latin on the others. That is what the instruction produces, and it is what this record exists to report. We congratulate Gene, Charles, Jonghyun, Susie, and Victoria.