Oxford German Olympiad 2026:
Immer unterwegs - Mobilität und Reiselust
The winning entries
The results for our 14th Oxford German Olympiad are in! We received an amazing number of excellent entries this year, and it was a difficult task for our panel of judges to pick the winners. A big thank you to all participants and their teachers.
Winning entries will be uploaded over the next few days.
Note: some links lead to external webpages (YouTube etc.) or downloadable files.
Years 5 and 6 (age 9-11):
1. Design your ideal Transportmittel (means of transport) and label 10-12 parts.
Winner: Isabella di Giacomo
Runner-up (joint): Piper Burt
Runner-up (joint): entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Arya Cutajar Bezzina
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
2. Draw a map of your dream journey and 10-12 things you will need to put in your suitcase or rucksack. If you're taking a pet along, don't forget their needs. Label those things.
Winner: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Runner-up: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Runner-up: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Leonardo Mevola-Morton
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
3. Draw a cartoon of someone encountering problems on a train journey, with speech bubbles.
Winner: Ariadne Kua
Winner: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Runner-up: Cameron Anderson
Years 7 to 9 (age 11-14):
1. Create a comic strip about a journey undertaken by two or three animals.
Winner (joint): Alexa Cox
Winner (joint): Nathaniel Tse
Winner (joint): entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Runner-up (joint): Calann Kouam
Runner-up (joint): Maria-Clarissa Torba
Runner-up (joint): Aroha Mukherjee
Runner-up (joint): Eric Waldecker
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Azlan Khan
Commended: Ruby Lui
Commended: Ayaan Sachdeva
Commended: Vivek Bandla
Commended: Aryan Khanna
2. "Fahrrad, Auto, Eisenbahn, Schiff, Flugzeug ... Welche Transportmittel werden wir im Jahr 2050 benutzen?" Illustrate your response with drawings or photos.
Winner (joint): entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Winner (joint): Aadiya Karmokar
Winner (joint): Miles Castellana
Runner-up (joint): Zayn Khan
Runner-up (joint): Daniel Ayodeji Oniya
Runner-up (joint): Anishk Chandel
Runner-up (joint): Ethan Webb
Highly Commended: Nikhil Gajavilli
Highly Commended: Arnav Anisetty
Highly Commended: Arlo Greendale
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: Avyukth Gowda
Highly Commended: Aarush Sen
Highly Commended: George Hendry
Commended: Avin Wanasinghe
Commended: Joseph Fung
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
3. Write an essay or story on ONE of the following topics: "Meine Reise zum Mond" OR "Meine Traumreise" OR "Mein Schulweg".
Winner: Wanda Milewicz
Runner-up (joint): Alaric Wong
Runner-up (joint): Pranith Nagdev
Runner-up (joint): Priyanshi Gupta
Runner-up (joint): Aahnik Manekar
Runner-up (joint): Zainab Arshad
Runner-up (joint): Isabelle Mowla
Runner-up (joint): Rowan Arun Kumar
Highly commended: Louis Qu
Highly commended: Eliza Boney
Commended: Kavish Torati
Commended: Addy Wroe
Commended: Aysu Batmaz
Commended: Ellen Eis Loynes
Commended: Sadie Collins
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Bobby Lewis Watson
Years 10 and 11 (age 14-16):
1. Develop a proposal in German for a video game entitled "Abenteuerreise", presenting it with drawings, photos or in video format.
Winner: Mya Ishaq
Runner-up: Tara Shah
Highly Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Jayden Cheung
2. Write an essay on the invention, use and dangers of one or more of the following methods of travel: Kanu, Seilbahn, Zeppelin, Rakete.
Winner: Ilianna Karageorgi
Runner-up: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Highly Commended: Adam Szep
Commended: Matilda Eidems
3. Write a fictional travelogue including conversations from the perspective of a group of migrating birds.
Winner: Ellise Shakeel
Runner-up: Ana Raj
Highly Commended: Aanya Sarda
Commended: Rohan Talari
Years 12 and 13 (age 16-18):
1. Die Heldenreise or Hero's Journey is a common narrative framework that can be found in many stories, from old myths to today's novels and films. It outlines a hero's adventure through a special world, facing tests and coming home transformed with newfound wisdom or a reward. Write an abstract for a screenplay which follows or changes this pattern.
Winner: Saskia Schulze Melander
Runner-up: Bella Palin
Highly Commended: Dylan Nathanael Jones
Highly Commended: Hilmi Mohammed
Highly Commended: Albie Ascott
Highly Commended: Alexander Howell
Commended: Toby Blyth
Commended: Louis Sturman
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Edmund Kimber
Commended: Steve (Qitong) Shen
Commended: Sarah Brophy
2. "Alternatives Reisen" - Create a conference brochure with keynote papers, workshops and activities.
Winner: Cassandre Mariaz-Baggio
Runner-up: George Karageorgis
3. "Eine unvergessliche Bahnreise!" Create a travel agent's advertisement in brochure or website format presenting two real train journeys in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. For each one, include three items of customer feedback.
Winner: James Murphy
Runner-up: Philip Acaia
Highly Commended: Isaac Akowuah
Highly Commended: Alex Kaiser
Commended: Jules Jonchere
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Becky Chilcott
Commended: Nicolas Popp
Open Competition for Groups or Classes (2-4 participants)
1. Create a video sketch entitled "Ich packe meinen Koffer...".
Winner: Maysha Chowdhury, Ying Yan, Swastika Roy
Runner-up: Joshua Green, Joshua Lockwood
Runner-up: Adaora Omo, Katy Ring
Commended: Guo Neng Ma, Khiyan Patel
2. Record a podcast with the title "Reiselust in den Zeiten der Nachhaltigkeit".
Winner: Lauren Gutmann, Violet Heintz
Runner-up: Hannah Lindsey-Noble, Oliver Dunnett, Xander Insall, Yassin Hassan
Highly commended: Isla Church, Inge Dickenson, Madeleine Fremantle
Commended: Elinah Shah, Dora Kennedy, Matilda Bowman Pester
Commended: Osarumen Egie-Uwaifo, Kofo Apantaku, Michelle Leshaodo, Semilore Ajayi
3. Create a concept for a board game focusing on real or fantasy transport or travel, and present it as a brochure or in a video.
Winner: Chit Soo, Shuya Zhang, Lydia Chen, Hazel Cheung
Runner-up: Ananya Patrick, Ananya Subramonian
Runner-up: Eliott Leblan, Evann Falade-Dembet
Commended: Freddie Westbrook, Austin Heaton
Discover German - Taster Competition (participants with no prior experience of studying German)
Years 5 and 6: Draw a picture of your ideal Reiseziel (travel destination) - this destination can be entirely fictional - and give your picture 10 explanatory labels.
Winner: Triaksh Mukesh
Runner-up: James Sousa Brazao
Years 7 to 9: Design a visitor's brochure for a German city you'd like to visit. Include photos or drawings and 15 German words or phrases.
Winner: Mark Jakovlev
Runner-up: Nur Raida Muhassanah Muhammad Idlan
Years 10 and 11: Create a map of a dream journey (by drawing it or designing a web page) that involves three modes of transport. Label each one and 6 of its parts.
Winner: Zahi Hussain
Years 12 and 13: German loves building words from other words! With the help of a dictionary, create two spider diagrams for words formed from the verbs 'reisen' and 'fahren' (equivalent to a word family such as 'run' > 'runner' - 'runny' - 'runway' - 'forerunner'), providing a translation in brackets under each word.
Winner: Magdalena Aver
ROUND 2
Task I: 125 Jahre Wuppertaler Schwebebahn
Entrants should choose one of the following three topics:
1) In October 1900 - shortly before the official opening in 1901 - Kaiser Wilhelm and his wife went on a test ride of Germany's newest invention: the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal. Write a fictional diary entry about this experience, from the viewpoint of Kaiser Wilhelm, his wife, the conductor, or a spectator. (300-400 words).
2) Find out about Tuffi the elephant and discuss the following question in essay or podcast form: "War der Auftritt von Tuffi in der Wuppertaler Schwebebahn eine harmlose Werbeaktion oder ein unverantwortlicher Umgang mit Tier und Technik?" (300-400 words or max. 5 min).
3) "Warum war der Bau der Wuppertaler Schwebebahn um 1900 sowohl ein technischer Fortschritt als auch ein Risiko?" Write an essay or create a video presentation (300-400 words or max. 5 min).
Winner (first prize - £100): entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Runner-up (second prize - £50): Matilda Bowman Pester
Highly commended: Louis Sturman
Highly commended: Roddy Douglas
Highly commended: Alexander Howell
Commended: Atiya Fairuz Kabir
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
Commended: Ilianna Karageorgi
Commended: Amelia Mowla
Task II: Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907)
Draw or paint a self-portrait in the style of portraits by the German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker. Describe what is typical of her portraits and include a comment on your own painting. (100-200 words).
Winner (first prize - £100): Ruby Rifkind
Runner-up (second prize - £50): Aarna Tiwari
Highly commended: Rugved Gogawale
Commended: Steve (Qitong) Shen
Task III: Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Rilke wrote several poems about animals, including Der Panther, Die Gazelle, Die Flamingos and Papageien-Park. Write a poem in German about an animal (or animals) and EITHER create a video of yourself reading both one poem by Rilke AND your own poem, OR write a commentary in German (100–200 words) comparing your poem with ONE of Rilke’s animal poems.
Winner (first prize - £100): Inés Gradillas
Runner-up (second prize - £50): Flora Boney
Highly Commended: Matilda Eidems
Highly Commended: Philippa Behre
Commended: entrant did not give consent to their entry being published
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.
