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A message from Anne Popovich, OHSGC Chair.

The 52nd Annual Ontario High School German Contest took place at McMaster University on April 13th, 2025. McMaster initiated the first German Contest for high school students over 50 years ago and we were thrilled to again hold this special celebration of the Contest in its birthplace.

The Contest welcomed students from all over the province including participants from Appleby College, the Deutsche Sprachschule Concordia German Language Association, Gary Allan Saturday School, Harbord Collegiate, and UTS (University of Toronto Schools). Our examiners were so impressed with the high calibre of language proficiency in German among the participants.

First place winners in the four categories were, in Group 1 (beginners) Ivan Bowley from UTS, in Group 3 (some German background or exposure through travel) Nola O’Neil from the Gary Allan Saturday School, Halton, and in Group 4 (extensive German background and/or travel) Leander Coshun from the Concordia German Language School, Kitchener-À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. The Group 2 winner (students with more than one year of regular German studies) was Sophie Demsey from Concordia German Language School, Kitchener-À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ.For her accomplishment, Sophie will travel to Austria this summer courtesy of the Goethe-Institut Toronto.

Our thanks go to our wonderful sponsors, the Goethe-Institut Toronto,Husky Food Importers, the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Centre for German Studies, the Swiss Consulatein Montréal, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Toronto, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures of theUniversity of Toronto, the Department of Languages and Literatures at Wilfrid Laurier University, ApplebyCollege, Goethe Books and Media, the Ontario Association of Teachers of German, Dimpflmeier Bakery, Zeiss Corporation, and PanoCap Canada. Our special thanks to the faculty and staff of the Department of Linguistics and Languages at McMaster University for hosting the Contest and making the event such a success. 

Our thanks also go to our amazing German teachers, especially those on the organizing and testing committees:Yasmin Aly, Berit Bein, Bettina Brown,Dorothea Coskun, Jeremy Forward, Allison Grant, Susanne Kallweit, Carina Rösch, Jimmy Steele, Gabriela Szolnoki-Bourgeois, Nicola Townend, Alexandra Zimmermann and Thomas Zuliani.

We look forward to the next Contest in 2026!