Calling all young translators – the 2025 all-island ‘Aistritheoirí Óga’ (Young Translators) competition is now open

Schools across the island of Ireland will be able to enter their students into the seventh annual edition of the Aistritheoirí Óga competition for translations into Irish.

Schools can apply to take part until 24 January 2025 and the competition will take place on 6 March in all participating schools.

Launching the competition, Robert Gunning, Acting Head of Unit in the European Commission said: 

‘It’s a privilege to us in the Commission to hold this competition each year for the best of Ireland’s young translators. I have no doubt that it is a wonderful incentive for pupils in every province in the country to pick up their pens to test their translation skills, and it give great encouragement to the translators working here in Belgium to see the next generation of translators forming at home.’ 

‘Translation is a craft that demands skill and inteligence; understanding of the text and knowledge of the world. Ireland’s young people show every year that they have these talents when they take part in Aistritheoirí Óga. Best of luck in the competition!’ 

Robert Gunning added. 

The project is run in conjunction with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and the Gaeltacht, who also co-sponsor it. 

Background on the competition

The ‘Aistritheoirí Óga' (Young Translators) translation competition is organised jointly by the European Commission and the Irish Government. It is open to students across the island of Ireland who were at least 15 years of age on the 1st September 2024 and who have the ability to translate from English into Irish, or from a range of other European languages into Irish.

The competition has three goals: to promote a high standard of Irish, to encourage multilingualism among secondary school students and to encourage their interest in careers with Irish.  

There are five categories in the competition: the best translation into Irish in each province and the best overall translation across the island of Ireland.

All schools wishing to participate should register by the 24^th January 2025 by sending an email to DGT-GA-AISTRITHEOIRI-OGAec [dot] europa [dot] eu (DGT-GA-AISTRITHEOIRI-OGA[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu). 

The competition will take place on Thursday, the 6^th March 2025.

At the awards ceremony in May 2025, the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and the Irish language will present the winners with their prizes, including AIa perpetual trophy for the overall winner.

Further information about the competition, the registration process and the rules of the competition can be found here.  Examples of previous competition texts can be found here.

The first edition of this competition was launched in October 2017. 

The competition is part of a wider effort to raise awareness of the status of the Irish language as an official language of the European Union (EU) and the resulting career opportunities. 

Further information

For further information, please contact: Pól Ó Grádaigh at DGT-Dublinec [dot] europa [dot] eu (DGT-Dublin[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) or 087 487 2621.