Classics competition success for Perse pupils

11 Dec 2020

Perse pupils won an award in every category at the Cambridge Classical Association Reading Competition.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was held virtually this year with entrants having to record their readings of Latin and Greek texts chosen by the judging panel, made up of members of the classics faculties at Oxford and Cambridge, who then gave their verdicts.

Perse students enjoyed a clean sweep of successes in the Greek categories, with Neelkantha Mukherjee (Year 9), Carole Tucker (Year 10) and Nicholas Romanos (Upper Sixth) taking the junior, intermediate and senior accolades respectively.

Neelkantha brought to life a section of Homer’s Odyssey, while Carole impressed the judges with her accomplished performance of part of Lucian’s Vera Historia. Nicholas performed the mournful report of Antilochus regarding Patrocius’ death from Homer’s Iliad with great emotion and skill and was praised by judge Dr Chris Whitton for giving the best performance across the whole competition.

Catherine Follows (Year 8) and Neelkantha Mukherjee were both highly commended in the junior Latin category and Tansy Xue (Year 10) was runner-up in the intermediate Latin section, while Camillo Padulli and Elizabeth Gliznutsa (both Upper Sixth) were highly commended in the senior Latin category.

Perse Head of Classics Seb Foster said: “Given the recorded format of the competition this year, pupils had the added challenge of trying to convey the enthusiasm and energy in their recital, whilst not performing in front of judges.

“I was immensely proud of all those who took part and delighted to learn that Perse students won an award in every category of the competition, demonstrating the range of appreciation for Latin and Greek throughout the school.”