The European Commission is who is organizing the third edition of this competition aimed at secondary schools. Candidates for the prize, the Juvenes Translatores, can test their skills by translating a text into a language of their choice, in order to obtain a prize. The registration period is open until 20th October.
 

The European Commissioner for multilingualism, Leonard Orban, has defined the Juvenes Traslator Contest as "a contest that started off as a pilot project and has developed into a much-awaited highlight of the school year". The purpose of the contest is to give students a chance to use their language skills and try to "work" as a translator. "We find it especially gratifying that some of the previous winners are currently studying translation at the university," said Commissioner Orban.

In the first phase, secondary schools from all Member States are invited to register using the on-line form available on the contest website. A number of the schools from each Member State that have registered will be randomly selected by computer. As the number of schools is limited, the basis for selection is the number of votes that each Member State has in the Council of the European Union multiplied by two. For example, UK has 58 participating schools, and Netherlands has 28.

In the second phase, each school should submit the names of up to five students born in 1992. At the same time, the students should choose the language from and into which they intend to translate. They are free to choose from any of the 23 official EU languages.

The contest will be held on 24 November 2009, with the translations being done at the same time in all Member States under the supervision of the schools. Contestants will have two hours to translate a text sent to the schools shortly before the competition starts. Contestants may use dictionaries, but not electronic devices.

After the contest, the translations will be marked by a panel consisting of professional translators from the Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation, and the contest jury will choose the best translation from each Member State. All winners will be invited to an award ceremony in Brussels in the presence of the European Commissioner for Multilingualism. During their trip to Brussels the winners will have time to get to know one another and also to meet a number of EU translators.