As part of its sponsorship of the Excellence in Translation prize, Liz Athey was invited to attend the Aston University  Degree Congregations at Birmingham Town Hall on 31 March where postgraduate degrees were awarded to over 300 students. Chancellor of the University, Sir Michael Bett , presented degrees to students from the Schools of Languages and Social Science, Engineering and Applied Science, Life and Health Sciences and Aston Business School. An Honorary Degree was awarded to Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation since 2001 during which time turnover in the UK has increased from £30m to £750m.

Dorothy Appleyard. Photograph by John Hipkiss Photography Ltd

After the ceremony, a reception was held at the University where the annual Excellence in Translation prize was presented to Dorothy Appleyard, the most outstanding postgraduate student who achieved a merit on the Translation in a European Context programme. Dorothy hopes to become a full-time translator but having achieved her Masters, she plans firstly to broaden her horizons by spending three months teaching in Ghana.

The Translation People sponsor the award not only to recognise the achievements of the next generation of professional translators, but to raise the profile of translation as a specialist profession and hopefully encourage more young people to consider language careers. There is likely to be an acute shortage of native English speaking translators in the future if language learning trends are not reversed.