American Literary Translators Association

The National Translation Award is awarded annually to a literary translator who has made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. Established in 1998, the NTA is the only prize for a work of literary translation into English to include an evaluation of the source language text. The NTA is given out in poetry and in prose. Hybrid works and drama are welcome, and may be submitted to either category as determined appropriate by the publisher. Publishers are invited to submit translated works of prose published in 2022 using this form.

Please note: Only publishers may submit to this award.

Recent winners include Daniel Borzutzky (2017 Poetry), Esther Allen (2017 Prose), Katrine Øgaard Jensen (2018 Poetry), Charlotte Mandell (2018 Prose), Bill Johnston (2019 Poetry), Karen Emmerich (2019 Prose), Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi (2020 Poetry), Jordan Stump (2020 Prose), Geoffrey Brock (2021 Poetry), Tejaswini Niranjana (2021 Prose), D. M. Black (2022 Poetry) and Martin Aitken (2022 Prose).

The award-winning book and translator for 2023 will receive a $4,000 award. The publisher of the winning book will be asked to send one (1) copy of the title to ALTA. 

To be eligible for the 2023 National Translation Award, the translation must be:

• from any language into English
• of a book-length work of fiction, literary non-fiction, drama in prose, or hybrid prose forms by a single translator or by a team of up to (but not exceeding) four collaborative translators
• published anywhere in the world in 2022

The deadline for nominating books published in 2022 is April 17, 2023, 11:59pm PT. Further information regarding eligibility for the NTA and the awards procedures may be found here.

For books chosen by the judges for the longlist, publishers will be asked to provide the original-language text; any finalist for which no original-language text is provided will be excluded from further consideration.
Upon completion of the submission, publishers will receive instructions for mailing print copies of submitted titles to those judges who request them. The postmark deadline for mailing hard copies is April 17, 2023.  

ALTA is delighted to have Natascha Bruce, Shelley Frisch, Jason Grunebaum, Sawad Hussain, and Lytton Smith as the 2023 National Translation Award in Prose judges!

The timeline for the 2023 NTA in Prose is:  
January 17: Submissions open
April 17: Submissions close
Early September: Longlists announced
Late September: Shortlists announced
November 2023: Winners announced at conference  

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org. We look forward to seeing your submissions!

The National Translation Award is awarded annually to a literary translator who has made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. Established in 1998, the NTA is the only prize for a work of literary translation into English to include an evaluation of the source language text. The NTA is given out in poetry and in prose. Hybrid works and drama are welcome, and may be submitted to either category as determined appropriate by the publisher. Publishers are invited to submit translated works of poetry published in 2022 using this form.

Please note: Only publishers may submit to this award.

Recent winners include Pierre Joris (2015 Poetry), William Hutchins (2015 Prose), Hilary Kaplan (2016 Poetry), Elizabeth Harris (2016 Prose), Daniel Borzutzky (2017 Poetry), Esther Allen (2017 Prose), Katrine Øgaard Jensen (2018 Poetry), Charlotte Mandell (2018 Prose), Bill Johnston (2019 Poetry), Karen Emmerich (2019 Prose), Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi (2020 Poetry),  Jordan Stump (2020 Prose), Geoffrey Brock (2021 Poetry), Tejaswini Niranjana (2021 Prose), D. M. Black (2022 Poetry) and Martin Aitken (2022 Prose).

The award-winning book and translator for 2023 will receive a $4,000 award. The publisher of the winning book will be asked to send one (1) copy of the title to ALTA.

To be eligible for the 2023 National Translation Award, the translation must be:   

• from any language into English
• of a book-length work of poetry, prose poetry, or verse drama (hybrid words welcome) by a single translator or by a team of up to (but not exceeding) four collaborative translators 
• published anywhere in the world in 2022

Previously only open to translators with U.S. citizenship or residency, as of the 2019 awards cycle the National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose are open to works by translators based anywhere in the world.

The deadline for nominating books published in 2023 is April 17, 2023, 11:59pm PT. Further information regarding eligibility for the NTA and the awards procedures may be found here. 

For books chosen by the judges for the longlist, publishers will be asked to provide the original-language text; any finalist for which no original-language text is provided will be excluded from further consideration.
Upon completion of the submission, publishers will receive instructions for mailing print copies of submitted titles to those judges who request them. The postmark deadline for mailing hard copies is April 17, 2023. 

We are honored to have Pauline Fan, Heather Green, and Shook as the 2023 National Translation Award in Poetry judges! 

The timeline for the 2023 NTA in Poetry is:
January 17: Submissions open
April 17: Submissions close
Early September: Longlists announced
Late September: Shortlists announced
November 2023: Winner announced at ALTA46 conference

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org. We look forward to seeing your submissions!

The Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA), inaugurated in 2015, recognizes the importance of contemporary Italian prose (fiction and literary non-fiction) and promotes the translation of Italian works into English. 

This $5,000 prize is awarded annually to a translator of a recent work of Italian prose (fiction or literary non-fiction). The publisher of the winning book will be asked to send two (2) copies of the title to ALTA.

Recent winners of the IPTA include Anne Milano Appel (2015), Ann Goldstein (2016), Matthew Holden (2017), Elizabeth Harris (2018), Simon Carnell & Erica Segre (2019), Frederika Randall (2020), Stephen Twilley (2021), and Anna Chiafele and Lisa Pike (2022).

To be eligible for the Italian Prose in Translation Award, works must be:

• book-length translations into English of prose (fiction or literary non-fiction)
• translated from Italian into English
• published in the previous calendar year

Translators and publishers may submit eligible titles using this form.

Submissions will be judged according to the literary significance of the original and the success of the translation in recreating the literary artistry of the original. While the IPTA is primarily intended to recognize the translation of contemporary works, re-translations or first-time translations of important older works will also be seriously considered. 

The deadline for submissions to the 2023 Italian Prose in Translation Award is April 17, 2023, 11:59pm PT.   Upon completion of the submission, publishers will receive instructions for mailing print copies of submitted titles to those judges who request them. The postmark deadline for mailing hard copies is April 17.

We are honored to have Leah Janeczko, Jenny McPhee, and Jamie Richards as the 2023 Italian Prose in Translation Award judges. 

The timeline for the 2023 IPTA is:
January 17: Submissions open
April 17: Submissions close
September: Shortlist announced
November 2023: Winner announced at conference

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org. We look forward to seeing your submissions! 

The Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, which was inaugurated in 2009, recognizes the importance of Asian translation for international literature and promotes the translation of Asian works into English. Stryk was an internationally acclaimed translator of Japanese and Chinese Zen poetry, renowned Zen poet himself, and former professor of English at Northern Illinois University.

The award-winning book and translator for 2023 will receive a $6,000 award. The publisher of the winning book will be asked to send two (2) copies of the title to ALTA.

Translators and publishers may submit eligible titles using this form.

Recent winners include Red Pine (2010), Charles Egan (2011), Don Mee Choi (2012), Lucas Klein (2013), Jonathan Chaves (2014), Eleanor Goodman (2015), Sawako Nakayasu (2016), Jennifer Feeley (2017), Bonnie Huie (2018), Don Mee Choi (2019), and Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi (2020), Archana Venkatesan (2021), and Jae Kim (2022).

To be eligible for the 2023 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, works must be: 

•  book-length translations into English of either a) poetry or b) source texts from Zen Buddhism (which must not consist solely of commentaries) 
• translations from Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Thai, Vietnamese, Kannada, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean into English 
• published in 2022

Submissions will be judged according to the literary significance of the original and the success of the translation in recreating the literary artistry of the original. While the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize is primarily intended to recognize the translation of contemporary works, re-translations or first-time translations of important older works will also be seriously considered.

The deadline for nominating books published in 2022 is April 17, 2023, 11:59pm PT. Upon completion of the submission, publishers will receive instructions for mailing print copies of submitted titles to those judges who request them. The postmark deadline for mailing hard copies is April 17, 2023. 

We are honored to have Soje, Dong Li, and Paige Aniyah Morris as this year’s judges.

The timeline for the 2023 Lucien Stryk Prize is:
January 17: Submissions open
April 17: Submissions close
September Shortlist announced
November 2023: Winner announced at the ALTA46 conference

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org. We look forward to seeing your submissions! 

The Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award (SUFTA), inaugurated in 2022, is offered by the American Literary Translators Association in conjunction with the Spain-USA Foundation.

The award recognizes translations into English of literary prose works written originally by authors of Spanish (Spain) nationality. The source language of the original text may be Spanish, Catalan, Basque, or Galician. The author need not be living for the work to be eligible for the prize.

The winner of the SUFTA will be recognized, alongside the other prizes administered by ALTA, at the Awards Ceremony held at the annual ALTA conference, and will be awarded a $5,000 prize. The publisher of the winning book will be asked to send two (2) copies of the title to ALTA.

Translators and publishers may submit eligible titles using this form.

To be eligible for the 2023 Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award, works must be: 

• Submissions may be made by publishers OR translators for this prize
• The book must be a translation from Spanish, Catalan, Basque, or Galician into English, and by an author of Spanish (Spain) nationality
• The book may be translated by a translator based anywhere in the world, individually or in a team of up to, but not exceeding, four (4) co-translators
• The book must have been published in the United States by a U.S.-based press in the previous calendar year (for example, to be eligible for the 2022 awards cycle, the book must have been published in 2021)
• Only prose books (literary fiction and nonfiction) are eligible

The deadline for nominating books published in 2022 is April 17, 2023, 11:59pm PT. Upon completion of the submission, publishers will receive instructions for mailing print copies of submitted titles to those judges who request them. The postmark deadline for mailing hard copies is April 17, 2023. 

We are honored to have Lisa Dillman, Tiago Miller, and Gary Racz as this year’s judges. 

The timeline for the 2023 SUFTA is:
January 17: Submissions open
April 17: Submissions close
September: Shortlist announced
November 2023: Winner announced at ALTA46 conference

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org. We look forward to seeing your submissions! 

Each year, a number of fellowships between $500 and $1,000 are awarded to emerging translators to help them participate in the annual ALTA conference. 

For the ALTA Travel Fellowships, an emerging translator is someone who does not yet have a book-length work of translation published or under contract. ALTA considers chapbooks to be book-length publications for the Travel Fellowships. The ALTA Travel Fellowships are open to individual translators (not teams of co-translators).

We strive for inclusivity and diversity in our applicants. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability status, educational level or professional experience, including those with prior training or experience in non-literary translation; those who are speakers of Indigenous languages; and those who are heritage speakers of languages other than English. While the Travel Fellowships are open to all applicants, we especially encourage applications from translators of color, translators with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ translators.

Among the fellowships is the Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellowship, which is preferentially awarded to an emerging translator of color or a translator working from an underrepresented diaspora or stateless language. Applicants for the Jansen Fellowship should apply using the below ALTA Travel Fellowship application, and check the Jansen Fellowship eligibility box in the application form.

ALTA Travel Fellowships are funded by a combination of member dues and private donations, often generously provided by established translators and other devoted supporters of literary translation. If you are interested in learning more about how you can support this important program, please contact Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org.

This program is distinct from the ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program. Recipients of the 2023 Emerging Translator Mentorship Program mentorship are ineligible for the 2023 Travel Fellowships. Previous years' mentees are welcome to apply.

Find out more about previous years' travel fellows here.

This year, we are delighted to have Lizzie Davis, Michelle Gil-Montero, and Canaan Morse as our 2023 Travel Fellowship judges!

Applications must include:

• a cover letter explaining your interest in sharing your work with the ALTA community
• current CV / resumé
• up to 10 pages of translated work (poetry or prose, double spaced)
• the corresponding original language text

The deadline to apply for a 2023 ALTA Travel Fellowship is April 17 at 11:59pm PT.

The timeline for the 2023 ALTA Travel Fellowships is:
January 17: Submissions open

April 17 Submissions close

Mid-July: Winners notified

Mid-September: Winners announced

Early November: Winners featured in reading at ALTA46 conference