Learn Spanish (Latin America): El que el concursante haya ganado el certamen nos sorprende. - The fact that the contestant has won the contest surprises us.

In Spanish, when a clause acting as the subject of the sentence starts with que (that), it is very common to put the masculine singular article el in front of it. El que translates roughly to 'the fact that.' While starting the sentence with just Que is grammatically possible, El que sounds much more natural in everyday speech.

Why is the verb haber in the subjunctive (haya ganado)?

The subjunctive is triggered by the main verb sorprende (surprises). Verbs expressing emotion, personal reaction, or value judgments about a situation always require the subjunctive in the dependent clause. Since the sentence expresses an emotional reaction to a completed action, we use the present perfect subjunctive (haya ganado) instead of the indicative (ha ganado).

It looks a bit strange to have el que el right next to each other. Is this normal?

Yes, it is perfectly correct and normal! The first el belongs to the phrase el que (the fact that), and the second el is simply the article for the noun concursante (the contestant). Because they serve completely different grammatical functions, placing them side-by-side is necessary here.

Is certamen a common word for 'contest'? Could I use concurso instead?