The National Translation Award, established in 1998, 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. The NTA is given out in poetry and in prose, and includes an evaluation of the source language text as part of the judging process. 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 2025 using this form.

Please note: Only publishers may submit to this award.

The award-winning translator for 2026 will receive a $4,000 award.

To be eligible for the 2026 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 2025

The deadline for nominating books published in 2025 is March 16, 2026 at 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 shortlist, publishers will be asked to provide the original-language text as a digital copy; 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 March 17, 2026.  

The timeline for the 2026 NTA in Prose is:     

January 12: Submissions open

March 16: Submissions close

Early September: Longlists announced

Early October: Shortlists announced

Late October 2026: Winners announced at ALTA49 conference  

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

The National Translation Award, established in 1998, 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. The NTA is given out in poetry and in prose, and includes an evaluation of the source language text as part of the judging process. 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 2025 using this form.

Please note: Only publishers may submit to this award.

The award-winning translator for 2026 will receive a $4,000 award. 

To be eligible for the 2026 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 2025

The deadline for nominating books published in 2025 is March 16, 2026 at 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 shortlist, publishers will be asked to provide the original-language text as a digital copy promptly; 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 March 17, 2026. 

The timeline for the 2026 NTA in Poetry is:    

January 12: Submissions open   

March  16: Submissions close   

Early September: Longlists announced   

Early October: Shortlists announced   

Late October: Winner announced at ALTA49 conference

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

The ALTA First Translation Prize, inaugurated in 2024, recognizes the work of emerging literary translators and their editors. This annual prize is open to all genres, and awards one debut literary translation from any other language into English published in the previous calendar year. Translators based anywhere in the world and translations published anywhere in the world are eligible. 

The winner will be recognized, alongside the other prizes administered by ALTA, at the Awards Ceremony held at the annual ALTA conference. They will receive a cash prize of $3,000, with $2,000 bestowed to the translator and $1,000 to the editor. 

This prize is inspired by the TA First Translation Prize in the UK, which was founded in 2017 by Daniel Hahn and is administered by the Society of Authors. 

Eligibility for the ALTA First Translation Prize: 

• Submissions may be made by translators OR publishers for this prize. Publishers are expected to have informed translators of their intent to submit to this award
• Books must be the full-length debut literary translation of the translator (if translator has published other books or sorts of translation in the past, that is acceptable; this prize honors first book-length literary translations)
• Books of all genres are accepted
• The book must have been published anywhere in the world in English translation, from any other language, by a single translator based anywhere in the world
• The book must have been published in 2025

Please note: Self-published books are not eligible. Chapbooks are not counted as full-length publications for this prize. Co-translations are not eligible; if a translator has previously published a co-translated book, their debut solo translation is eligible for this prize. Translators may have published other shorter literary works previously (such as in journals or anthologies); this prize is to honor a translator’s first book-length work.

There is no fee charged to submit to this prize. 

The deadline for submissions to the 2026 ALTA First Translation Prize is March 16, 2026, 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 March 17, 2026.

The timeline for the 2026 ALTA First Translation Prize is:    

January 12: Submissions open   

March 16: Submissions close   

Mid-September: Shortlist announced   

Late October: Winner announced at ALTA49 conference     

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Director 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). 

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

• book-length (at least 100 pages) translations into English of prose (fiction or literary non-fiction)
• translated from Italian into English
• published in 2025 by a press based in the United States
• translated by a single translator or two collaborating translators, based anywhere in the world

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 2026 Italian Prose in Translation Award is March 16, 2026, 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 March 17.

The timeline for the 2026 IPTA is:    

January 12: Submissions open   

March 16: Submissions close   

Mid-September: Shortlist announced   

Late October: Winner announced at ALTA49 conference     

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Director 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 translator for 2026 will receive a $10,000 award. 

Translators and publishers may submit eligible titles using this form.

To be eligible for the 2026 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 2025

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 is March 16, 2026 at 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 March 17, 2026. 

The timeline for the 2026 Lucien Stryk Prize is:    

January 12: Submissions open   

March 16: Submissions close   

Mid-September: Shortlist announced   

Late October: Winner announced at the ALTA49 conference

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Director 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. 

Translators and publishers may submit eligible titles using this form.

To be eligible for the 2026 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.- or Canada-based press in 2025
• Only prose books (literary fiction and nonfiction) are eligible

The deadline for nominating books is March 16, 2026, 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 March 17, 2026. 

The timeline for the 2026 SUFTA is:    

January 12: Submissions open   

March 16: Submissions close   

Mid-September: Shortlist announced  

Late October: Winner announced at ALTA49 conference

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

Each year, a number of $1,000 fellowships 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 Director Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org.

This program is distinct from the ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program. Recipients of the 2026 Emerging Translator Mentorship Program mentorship are ineligible for the 2026 Travel Fellowships. Previous years' mentees are welcome to apply.

Applications must include:

• a cover letter explaining your interest in sharing your work with the ALTA community
• current CV / resumé (list any published translations, including excerpts or individual works published in anthologies, magazines, journals, etc.)
• up to 10 pages of translated work (single-spaced poetry or double-spaced prose); please note that translations must be into English in order to be considered
• the corresponding original language text

The deadline to apply for a 2026 ALTA Travel Fellowship is March 16, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

The timeline for the 2026 ALTA Travel Fellowships is:    

January 12: Submissions open   

March 16: Submissions close   

Mid-July: Winners notified   

Mid-September: Winners announced   

Late October: Winners featured in reading at ALTA48 conference

Please direct any questions to Communications and Awards Director Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org.