The winners of inaugural National Language Championship, created by online modern foreign languages vocabulary learning application Vocab Express, have been announced. The free championship, which ran from 28 February to 6 March, was designed to engage young people from across the UK and Ireland in, and enthuse them about, learning another language.
Over the week, more than 14,000 students from 200 secondary schools across the UK and Ireland logged on to Vocab Express for free to test their knowledge of vocabulary, scoring points towards their individual scoreboard and school league table position by correctly answering questions. Schools competed against others nationwide for the top position, as real-time leaderboards tracked the action as it happened. More than 18.9 million points were scored, and over 5.4 million questions answered in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, Urdu and Latin.
A tiered system of awards is recognising the achievement of schools and individual students at an overall level, and separately for each of the eight languages. The Genius Cup has been awarded to the school with the highest cumulative score of its top 25 students, and to allow all students to compete on a fair footing regardless of their school size, the Challenge Cup was divided into three leagues based on the student numbers registered at each school: large, medium and small. The Challenge Cup awards have been given to the schools that have the highest cumulative score of all students taking part, and in each individual language. Championship Gold, Silver and Bronze level student awards have also been issued for the top-placed individual students overall and in each language.
Awards won are as follows:
| Award | Winning School |
| Genius Cup | Wirral Grammar School for Girls, Wirral |
| Challenge Cup Piccolo | The Dixie Grammar School, Market Bosworth |
| Challenge Cup Medio | Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Worcester |
| Challenge Cup Grande | Halifax High, Halifax |
| Genius Cup: French* | Wirral Grammar School for Girls, Wirral |
| Genius Cup: German* | Wirral Grammar School for Girls, Wirral |
| Genius Cup: Spanish* | Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Worcester |
| Genius Cup: Italian* | Manchester Grammar School, Manchester |
| Genius Cup: Mandarin* | Manchester Grammar School, Manchester |
| Genius Cup: Latin* | Manchester Grammar School, Manchester |
| Genius Cup: Urdu* | Jack Hunt School, Peterborough |
| Genius Cup: Arabic* | Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Worcester |
Justin Sycamore, managing director, Vocab Express comments: “Our biggest congratulations go to each and every student that took part in the Championship for their outstanding achievements - we have been astounded by the sheer level of enthusiasm, dedication and hard work that has been demonstrated by the thousands of participants! This inaugural championship has given a unique opportunity for students nationwide to gather and demonstrate their knowledge of foreign languages whilst continuing their learning process, something that Vocab Express is keen to drive and support.”
March 2012