The annual Skrivanek Baltic competition for students of Latvian universities “Best New Translator 2021” concluded on April 12, 2021. For the 13th time, the tournament was held in collaboration with ten Latvian universities, and the winner this year was Riga Technical University student Heinrihs Cielavs.



Even under the current conditions – remote working and studying – students from the biggest Latvian universities were highly engaged and showed a lot of interest in a translator's everyday life. This year, 37 applications were submitted, with 18 making it to the finals, where students translated texts from English, French, or German into Latvian. The competition's final was held online, and students were able to use Skrivanek Baltic partner's Memsource's translation tool. Heinrihs Cielavs, a Riga Technical University student, earned first place, followed by Andrejs Štrāls, a Ventspils University of Applied Sciences student, and Maija Pokule, a Riga Technical University student, in third place.

“This year, we proved to ourselves and the participants that the competition can be effectively conducted online by following modern requirements, which, honestly, is steadily becoming a part of every translator's daily life. It is a genuine honour that Latvian universities continue to generate a new generation of highly capable specialists who are eager to get engaged and test out their abilities. They are also persistent - when things do not go as planned, students participate again in order to be triumphant the second time. We are pleased that this year we provided students with the opportunity to try out the professional translation platform, and we are delighted to welcome international students to the pool of participants,” Skrivanek Baltic director Vasilijs Ragačevičs remarks on the competition's remote approach.

Following recent global developments, which is an important part of the translator's profession, in the Suez Canal trapped Ever Given ship situation was chosen as this year's topic as the translation. The new professionals were tasked with demonstrating their ability to work with the texts provided by the operators as well as their skill to navigate through the topic by doing independent research. The majority of the participants used the whole 60-minute translation period allocated.

The translated works were assessed by professional language specialists from associated universities, as well as by Skrivanek Baltic foreign language editors and translators with practical expertise. The accuracy of the source text and the quality of Latvian was the assessment criteria.

The competition's champion, Heinrihs Cielavs, also tested out his abilities in 2020, finishing third, and feels that these events are highly essential for student growth. “It was an honor to compete in this competition again! I feel that this is an excellent chance for any new translator to demonstrate their abilities and advance towards their career,” says Heinrihs Cielavs, the Best New Translator in 2021.

As a prize, the Best New Translator 2021 earned an internship at Skrivanek Baltic as well as a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 tablet. Jānis Roze presented inducement awards to the three best new translators. Memsource, a Skrivanek Baltic partner, also guaranteed that the associated universities will have access to their translation tool.

This year's Skrivanek Baltic competition was held in collaboration with the biggest Latvian universities – Baltic International Academy, Turība University, EKA University of Applied Sciences, Latvian Academy of Culture, University of Latvia, Liepaja University, Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Riga Stradins University, Riga Technical University and Ventspils University of Applied Sciences.

About “Skrivanek Baltic”

Skrivanek Baltic, an international language company, is one of Latvia's largest language service providers. Skrivanek Baltic is a part of the multinational Skrivanek Holding SE, which specializes in high-quality translations and language training.