The XXXII edition of the Certamen (11th -13th May 2012) attracted Latinists in their final year of secondary education from 16 European countries.

The academic standards of the competition are extremely high, in a five-hour long paper the candidates were required to translate, using a dictionary, an unseen passage (approx . 250 words) from Cicero’s De republica and to write a commentary on it. The topic of the passage this year was an sapientis sit rei publicae accipere habenas. The foreign candidates had their scripts translated into Italian by professional translators, so that they can be marked by the Italian examiners.

At the prize giving ceremony Amelia came an amazing 7th in a field of 291 students. Only the top 16 places receive recognition, with generous cash prizes being awarded to the top 11 and 5 honorary mentions to the last 5.