It is with quiet satisfaction — and with that measured pride which properly attends the cultivation of the Western intellectual inheritance — that Emerson Latin announces the results of the 2026 National Latin Exam.
In an age too often given over to the ephemeral and the colloquial, our scholars have elected instead the rugged ascent of classical learning. They joined a global cohort of more than 100,000 students, drawn from the fifty American states and some twenty-six sovereign nations, in a rigorous examination of the grammar, literature, and culture of the Roman world. To distinguish oneself in such company is no ordinary accomplishment; it bespeaks an interior discipline and a commitment to excellence that remains, alas, all too rare in our day.
Emerson Latin extends its recognition first to every student who sat for the examination. The discipline of preparation is itself a worthy thing, and the willingness to be measured against scholars throughout the world reflects credit upon them all. To those listed below, we extend our particular congratulations.
The Perfect Paper is among the rarest distinctions the National Latin Exam confers. It is awarded only to those who answer every question on the examination without a single error — a labyrinth of grammar, syntax, derivation, literature, and culture negotiated in its entirety without a misstep. In any given year, only a very small fraction of the global cohort attain it. We salute:
- Edward Cha
- Jihan Sean Lee
The highest tier of medal recognition, conferred upon those who placed within the top decile of participants worldwide. Their performance reflects a truly superior command of the Latin corpus.
- Joonwoo Back
- Kate Choi
- Emily Riwon Hwang
- Gio Hyung
- Abigail Eunsuh Kim
- Colin Seungmo Kim
- Elisa Min
- Victoria Gyuyeon Park
- Colin Hyunmin Ryu
- Mason Yoon
- Phillip Yoo
A distinction of high merit, awarded to those who have demonstrated a formidable proficiency in the language of Cicero and Vergil.
- Jackson Haram Park
- Sophia Park
- Liam Sung
- Min Yang
We recognize these students for their noteworthy achievement and their genuine immersion in the rigors of classical thought.
- Olivia Hwang
- Seojun Lim
- Jason Jejun Son
- Riley Yoo
- Jungin Yoon
The National Latin Exam remains a cornerstone of academic honor, but its deeper value lies in the intellectual curiosity it cultivates and the seriousness of purpose it both demands and rewards. As these students advance, they carry with them an inheritance that will inform their reading of law, of literature, and of philosophy for the remainder of their lives.
Emerson Latin is proud of every student named in the honors above.
Macte virtute. Sic itur ad astra.
This record repays careful reading. In 2024, one Emerson Latin student earned the Perfect Paper — a result that stood, at the time, as the program’s finest single performance in this competition. In 2025, no student reached that threshold, though twenty-six placed overall, the strongest total count the program had then recorded. In 2026, both marks are surpassed simultaneously: two Perfect Papers in a single sitting, and twenty-two total distinctions across all four tiers.
Two Perfect Papers. The examination admits no partial credit, no favorable rounding, no circumstantial grace. Every question of grammar, every point of syntax, every inference of literature and culture must be answered correctly — in full, without exception. In any given year, across a global field of more than 100,000, only a handful of students anywhere in the world achieve it. Edward Cha and Jihan Sean Lee each achieved it. That two students from the same program, in the same year, should both navigate that labyrinth without a single misstep is not a coincidence of talent; it is the consequence of a particular kind of preparation.
The Gold list rewards further attention. Victoria Gyuyeon Park appears here among the Gold medalists. Those who have followed this record will recall that Park was, only days prior, awarded the Summa Cum Laude by the Vergilian Society — the highest distinction of the Keely Lake Memorial Translation Exam, a separate and far more demanding international competition requiring unaided sight translation of Vergil’s dactylic hexameter before a panel of professional classicists. To hold both distinctions in the same academic year — the NLE Gold Medal and the Vergilian Society Summa Cum Laude — is an achievement without obvious precedent in this record. Gio Hyung, who once earned a Perfect Paper of her own on the National Mythology Exam in back-to-back years, appears again among the Gold medalists. Phillip Yoo, whose name has distinguished itself in other arenas this season, is likewise among the Gold. These are not new names to this page; they are names that have compounded in value with each successive year.
It is worth noting what the 2026 results represent structurally. The program has, over three years, moved from one Perfect Paper to none to two. The Gold count has held steady at eleven while the overall field of medal earners has remained robust. What appears in the numbers is not a single exceptional cohort but the maturation of a sustained approach to instruction — one in which the same students return, advance, and sharpen, and in which new students arrive already formed by the same habits of mind. The 2026 National Latin Exam results are, in this sense, less a destination than a document: evidence of what classical formation, pursued without concession to convenience, actually produces.