Benenden pupil Izzy Hasson has won the sixth Bai Meigui Translation Competition, organised by Singapore Book Council and The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing at the University of Leeds.
Izzy’s competition entry has been published as a bilingual picture book by Balestier Press called Sleepy, Sleepy New Year. In anticipation of the book release Izzy contributed to a virtual launch event in September, which was hosted by the Singapore Book Council.
Commenting on the competition win Izzy said: “The Chinese teachers at my school recommended that we entered the competition so that we could challenge ourselves and explore different areas of Mandarin study. My initial thought was that it would be fun to be part of an international competition – but I never imagined that I would actually win it.”
Since winning the competition Izzy has been in contact with the current Marsh Children’s Literature Translation Award holder, Helen Wang, who was one of the judges and has mentored Izzy over the last few weeks.