The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Latin Translation Contest evaluates secondary and university students on a single criterion: the quality of the Latin translation they produce. Grading is blind and structured on AP-style chunk scoring — no name, no institution, no context beyond what the Latin itself yields. Awards are given sparingly; the contest does not distribute prizes broadly. Two Emerson Latin students placed in the 2026 Secondary Division.
Secondary Division — 2026
2nd Place
Book Award
Jackson Haram Park
Secondary Division — 2026
2nd Place
Book Award
Jay Hoo Yoo
Translation is, in an important sense, the most unforgiving form of Latin study. Every other competition in this record tests what a student knows — vocabulary, mythology, etymology, grammar — and a correct answer is a correct answer. Translation asks the student to demonstrate, in continuous prose, not only that he has understood the Latin but that he can render it with precision and style in English. The graders know what the Latin says. They are reading to see whether the student does too, and whether he can say so clearly.
Jackson Haram Park and Jay Hoo Yoo placed second in that environment, in a competition drawing from schools across North America. Their names have not appeared at the top of a CAMWS result before — this is a first entry for both in this particular record. It will not, we expect, be the last. We congratulate them both.