On Thursday, February 27th, junior Rachael Strasburg attended an awards ceremony at Hood College. She had won third place in a contest hosted by the Alliance Français, an organization dedicated to promoting francophonic culture and language, and at the ceremony she received a cash prize equalling 100 dollars for the essay she wrote.

“I was really surprised to win,” Strasburg says.

The prompt for the essay was to come up with an idea for a TV show, and Strasburg chose to write an idea for a show based on the Asterix comic series. The comics, which feature the adventures of two Gauls (Asterix and Obélix) living in France during its occupation by the Roman Empire, are very popular with children in France and have been translated into several other languages.

Strasburg was very happy to win and receive her prize. “The contest is very competitive and requires high-quality writing,” Mrs. Blonder says. “Each piece is judged by three native French speakers.”