Fable Competition 2024

Our second Young Aesopi fable competition was held in the summer term of 2024, and competition was fierce with over 180 entries from 21 Latin Excellence Programme schools.

Students in their first year of learning Latin were asked to write a fable, in Latin, that was easy to understand, employed Latin word order and style and had a moral at the end. Entries included fables about animals from the course, gladiators, teachers and students.

We were delighted to welcome back Dame Professor Mary Beard on the judging panel, who was very impressed with the standard of entries.

“I had such fun being the judge of this competition. The fables were full of imagination, mostly good morals (sometimes bad ones!) and some nice twists. Thank you everybody for all your hard work.”

— Dame Professor Mary Beard

Congratulations to all those who were highly commended and feature in our winning entries booklet. We would particularly like to congratulate the top three entries, as follows:

• 1st Prize: The Bird and the Tiger by Rory E.-M. (Year 7, Trinity Academy)

• 2nd Prize: The Argument by Riccardo O. (Year 8, Graveney School)

• 3rd Prize: Laurentius Dances Well by Daisy C. (Year 7, Hele’s School)

All students who feature in the winning entries booklet received a book and all entrants received a bespoke Latin Excellence Programme coin.

Competition prizes included 'Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes' by Edith Hamilton, Aesop's Complete Fables, and bespoke Latin Excellence Programme coins.

The Latin Excellence Programme team were joined by Dame Professor Mary Beard to select the winning entries.

All winning entries were published in this year's winning entries booklet.