The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) invites publishers to nominate translations published in 2011 for consideration for ALTA’s National Translation Award. The translator selected for this award will receive a cash prize of $5,000.
To be eligible for the 2012 National Translation Award, the translation must be:
- by an American citizen or U. S. resident
- from any language into English
- of a book-length work of fiction, poetry, drama or creative non-fiction (literary criticism, philosophy and biographies are not eligible),
- published anywhere in the world in 2011.
The deadline for receiving nominated books published in 2011 is March 15, 2012. Please send a letter of nomination, four copies of the nominated book and a $50 entry fee for each nominated book ($30 if your press publishes no more than five titles per year) to:
American Literary Translators Association
ATTN: National Translation Award
c/o The University of Texas at Dallas
800 W. Campbell Rd., JO51
Richardson, TX 75080-3021
If a translation is chosen to go on to the second round, publishers will be informed by June 1, 2012, that they will need to send a copy of the original-language text (a print version or e-mail attachment) by June 15, 2012. Criteria for judging the award are (1) the importance of the translation and the literary significance of the original; and (2) the success of the translation in recreating the artistic force of the original. Translations of contemporary works are preferred, but important retranslations or first-time translations of older works will also be considered if they make significant contributions to literature.
The award supports ALTA’s goal of enhancing the status of literary translation, improving the quality of literary translating, and broadening the market for works in English translation. The award-winning book and translator will be featured at the 35th annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association in Rochester, NY, October 3-6, 2012.
Recent winners include such distinguished translators as Joel Agee (2007), Richard Wilbur (2008), Norm Shapiro (2009), Alex Zucker (2010), and Lisa Rose Bradford (2011).
