Prizes & Awards

Academy of American Poets, The Harold Morton Landon Translation Award
The Harold Morton Landon Translation Award offers $1,000 to a U.S. citizen for a translation of a book of poetry from any language into English published in the United States during the current year.
www.poets.org

Academy of American Poets, Raiziss/de Palchi Book Prize
The Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award recognizes outstanding translations into English of modern Italian poetry through a $5,000 book prize and a $25,000 fellowship, given in alternating years.
www.poets.org

American Library Association, Mildred L. Batchelder Award
The (Mildred L.) Batchelder Award is granted to an American publisher, for a children’s book of the previous year published in a foreign language and country and subsequently published in translation in the United States. 
www.ala.org

American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Women’s Caucus Editing and Translation Fellowship
The ASECS Women’s Caucus Editing and Translation Fellowship is an annual award of $1000 to support an editing or a translation work in progress of an eighteenth-century primary text on a feminist or a Women’s Studies subject.
www.asecs.press.jhu.edu

American Literary Translators Association, The National Translation Award
The National Translation Award, funded by the Larry McMurtry Center for the Arts and Humanities, offers a cash prize of at least $2,500 for an English translation of a book-length work of fiction, poetry, drama, or creative nonfiction published during the calendar year.
www.literarytranslators.org

American-Scandinavian Foundation, Translation Prize
The ASF Translation Prize is offered annually by the Foundation for the best translation into English of poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose by a Scandinavian author born after 1800. The award includes $2,000, publication in an issue of Scandinavian Review, and a bronze medallion. The Inger Sjoberg Award of $1,000 is given to the runner-up.
www.amscan.org/translation

American Translators Association (ATA), Alicia Gordon Award for Word Artistry in Translation
The Alicia Gordon Award offers a $250 prize and certificate of recognition for translations of up to 750 words between English and Spanish or French in any subject.
www.afti.org

ATA and the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI), S. Edmund Berger Prize
The annual S. Edmund Berger Prize of $1,000 is offered to recognize excellence in scientific and technical translation by an ATA member.
www.afti.org

ATA, Lewis Galantière Award
The Lewis Galantière Award is bestowed biennially in even-numbered years for a distinguished book-length literary translation from any language, except German, into English. Prize: $1,000, a certificate of recognition, and up to $500 toward expenses for attending the ATA 51st Annual Conference in Denver, CO (October 27-30, 2010).
www.atanet.org

ATA, Student Translation Award
In 2010, ATA will award a grant-in-aid to a student for a literary or sci-tech translation or translation-related project. Translations must be from a foreign language INTO ENGLISH. Award: $500, a certificate of recognition, and up to $500 toward expenses for attending ATA’s 51st Annual Conference in Denver, CO (October 27-30, 2010).
www.atanet.org

ATA: Ungar Germany Translation Award
The Ungar Germany Translation Award is bestowed biennially in odd-numbered years for a distinguished literary translation from German into English that has been published in the United States. Award: $1,000, a certificate of recognition, and up to $500 toward expenses for attending ATA’s 52nd Annual Conference in Boston, MA (October 26-29, 2011).
www.atanet.org

Author’s League Fund 
Provides interest-free loans for published translators in need of help due to illness, misfortune, or temporary emergency.
www.authorsleaguefund.org

BCLA/BCLT Translation Competition
The British Comparative Literature Association and The British Centre for Literary Translation (University of East Anglia) sponsor annual prizes for the best unpublished literary translations from any language into English.
www.bcla.org

Bordighera Bilingual Poetry Prize
The Bordighera Bilingual Poetry Prize is given annually for a manuscript of poetry written in English by an Italian-American poet and translated into Italian. The winning poet and translator each receive $1,000 and publication by Bordighera, Inc., in a bilingual edition. 
www.italianamericanwriters.com

Columbia University, Translation of Japanese Literature Prizes
The Donald Keene Center annually awards $6,000 in prizes for the Translation of Japanese Literature. To qualify, works must be book-length translations of Japanese literary works: novels, collections of short stories, literary essays, memoirs, drama, or poetry.
www.keenecenter.org

Corda Foundation
A number of Corda Awards of up to $1,500 are granted for scholarly essays on the poetry of David Rosenmann-Taub, as well as translations of his work.
www.awards.cordafoundation.org/en/

French-American Foundation, Translation Prize
The French-American Foundation Translation Prize of up to $10,000 is awarded annually for the best translation of a work from French into English published in the United States in the current year.
www.frenchamerican.org

Gate Theatre, The Gate Translation Award
Awarded to a translator or playwright writing from a literal translation for a translation of a dramatic work. The winning script will be produced at the Gate Theatre and shortlisted plays will be given a staged reading.
 Prize: £1,000 and publication by Oberon Books.
www.gatetheatre.co.uk

German Academy for Language and Literature, Johann Heinrich Voss Prize for Translation
The Johann Heinrich Voss Prize for Translation recognizes an outstanding lifetime achievement in translation into German. One award of €15,000 is available annually.
www.deutscheakademie.de

Goethe-Institut Chicago, Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize
The Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize consists of an award of $10,000 and a one-month residency at the Literary Colloquium in Berlin. The award is given to honor an outstanding translation from German into English published in the United States during the previous year. The winner also receives an all-expenses-paid trip to the award ceremony in Chicago. 
www.goethe.de

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
This prize aims to honour a great work of fiction by a living author that has been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom. Prize: £5,000 each to the translator and writer. 
Contact: [email protected].

International Federation of Translators
The international Federation of Translators offers seven international translation prizes. Most prizes consist of a certificate of merit and a sum of money.
www.fit-ift.org/en

Korean Literature Translation Institute, Contest for New Translators
A contest for new translators held every year to discover and encourage promising new translators of Korean literature. First prize: 3,000,000, Second prize: 1,500,000.
www.klti.or.kr

Kosciuszko Foundation 
The Metchie J. E. Budka Award of $1,000 is given for outstanding scholarly work in Polish literature from the fourteenth century to 1939, Polish history from 962 to 1939, and Polish-American relations. The award recognizes outstanding work by American graduate students or recent doctoral degree recipients. 
www.kosciuszkofoundation.org

Latin American Writers Institute Translation Prize
From the Latin American Writers Institute, New York City, for an unpublished translation of Spanish poetry or fiction written by an Ibero-American writer living in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut.
www.hostos.cuny.edu

Literary Translators Association (Canada), John Glassco Translation Prize 
The John Glassco Translation prize is awarded for a book-length publication in Canada of a French work in English translation. 
www.attlc-ltac.org

Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation
The Marsh Award is a biennial award open to British translators of books for 4-16 year olds, published in the UK by a British publisher. The award of £2000 is made to the translator.
www.esu.org

Modern Language Association, Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Literary Translation
Awarded in even-numbered years for an outstanding translation into English of a book-length literary work and in odd-numbered years for a book-length work of literary history, literary criticism, philology, or literary theory.
www.mla.org

Modern Language Association of America, Lois Roth Award
The Lois Roth Award offers $1,000 in odd-numbered years for an outstanding translation into English of a book-length literary work. Translators need not be MLA members.
www.mla.org

Modern Language Association of America, Fenia and Yaakov Leviant Memorial Prize
The Fenia and Yaakov Leviant Memorial Prize awards $500 alternately in even-numbered years to an outstanding translation into English of a Yiddish literary work or an outstanding scholarly work in the field of Yiddish.
www.mla.org

Norwegian Literature Abroad (NORLA), Translation Prize
NORLA offers a prize of 20,000 Norwegian kroner to a translator who has made a significant contribution to translation of Norwegian literature into foreign languages, as well as to the promotion of Norwegian literature abroad. A free three week stay in Oslo is included in the prize. The prize is awarded every second year to a translator of non-fiction literature, and every second year to a translator of fiction.
www.norla.no/en

Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
The Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize of £2,000 is for translations into English from any living European language. It aims to honour the craft of translation, and to recognise its cultural importance.
www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk

The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation 
The $3,000 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation recognizes book-length translations of poetry from any language into English published during the current calendar year.
www.pen.org

The PEN Translation Prize 
The $3,000 PEN Translation Prize invites submissions of book-length translations from any language into English published during the current calendar year.
www.pen.org

The PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Award for Paraguayan Literature
The PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Award for Paraguayan Literature provides $3,000 to the living author of a major work of Paraguayan literature; the same amount will be given to a winning translator in order to bring the work to the English-speaking world. >> More

The Saif Ghobash – Banipal Prize
An annual prize of £3,000 for published translations of full-length works of imaginative and creative writing of literary merit and general interest, first published in the original Arabic no more than 35 years preceding its submission for the prize.
www.banipaltrust.org.uk/prize

Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award 
The Texas Institute of Letters awards $1,000 for the best translation of a book into English by a translator either born or resident for two consecutive years in Texas.
www.texasinstituteofletters.org 

The Society of Authors, Bernard Shaw Prize
The Bernard Shaw Prize of £1,000 is awarded triennially for the best translation into English of a Swedish work of literary merit in any genre published first in the U.K. during the three years up to and including the year of entry.
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, Calouste Gulbenkian Prize
The Calouste Gulbenkian Prize of £1,000 is awarded triennially for the best translation into English of a Portuguese work in the three years up to and including the year of entry.
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, Hellenic Foundation for Cultural Translation Prize
The Hellenic Foundation for Cultural Translation Prize of £1,000 is awarded triennially for a translation from modern Greek into English of full-length works of imaginative literature (prose, poetry or drama).
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, John Florio Prize
The John Florio Prize of £2,000 is awarded biennially for the best translation of an Italian work of literary merit and general interest.
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, Premio Valle Inclan
The Premio Valle Inclan of £1,000 is awarded annually for the best translation of a Spanish work of literary merit and general interest from any period and from anywhere in the world.
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, Schlegel-Tieck Prize
The Schlegel-Tieck Prize of £2,000 is awarded annually for the best translation of a German work of literary merit and general interest.
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, Scott Moncrieff Prize
The Scott Moncrieff Prize of £2,000 is awarded annually for the best translation of a full-length French work of literary merit and general interest.
www.societyofauthors.org

The Society of Authors, Vondel Translation Prize
The Vondel Translation Prize of £2,000 is awarded biennially for a translation into English of a Dutch or Flemish work of literary merit and general interest.
www.societyofauthors.org

Terrence Des Pres Prize for Poetry
From Triquarterly, Northwestern University, book-length translations of poetry are eligible.
www.nupress.northwestern.edu

William Goyen Prize for Fiction (biennial)
From Triquarterly, Northwestern University, book-length translations of fiction are eligible.
www.nupress.northwestern.edu

Helen Wulitzer Foundation of New Mexico
Residencies in Taos, with free housing and utilities, are available to visual artists, writers, and composers from April through September, and on a limited basis from October through March. >> More

Yaddo
Residencies are available to writers of any nationality who have published work of high artistic merit and are currently engaged in another project, and to unpublished writers working at professional levels in their fields, to spend two weeks to two months at Yaddo (Saratoga Springs).
www.yaddo.org

 

Residencies

Altos De Chavon

The Artist in Residence Program offers three fourteen-week residencies beginning in September, February, and June. The majority of residents are visual artists; writers are welcome.
www.altosdechavon.com

BCLT/Charles Wallace India Trust, Residencies
The BCLT currently hosts two residencies per year for translators from India.
www.bclt.org.uk

The Belaggio Study and Conference Center, Rockefeller Foundation
The center sponsors three kinds of residencies–typically one-month stays– for practitioners, scholars and creative artists.
www.rockefellerfoundation.org

Blue Mountain Center, Residencies
The Blue Mountain Center, located in the heart of the Adirondacks, offers one-month residencies to writers, authors and musicians. 
www.bluemountaincenter.org/

The Camargo Foundation, Residencies
The Camargo Foundation, located in Cassis, France, offers one-semester residencies for scholars pursuing studies in the humanities and social sciences related to French and francophone cultures as well as for composers, writers, and visual artists pursuing creative projects.
www.camargofoundation.org

Casa Del Traductor 
Located in Tarazona, Spain, the Casa Del Traductor offers two to eight-week residences for literary translators.  >> More 

Centrum, Fort Worden State Park
The Centrum Artist Residency Program accepts proposals on a rolling basis from artists and creative thinkers for self-directed retreats.
www.centrum.org

Collège International des Traducteurs Littéraires (ClTL)
Located in Arles, France, the CITL offers one-week to three-month residencies to professional translators from around the world.
www.atlas-citl.org/fr

Djerassi Foundation, Resident Artist Program 
The Djerassi Program awards residencies to national and international artists in the disciplines of choreography, literature, music composition, visual arts and media arts/new genres.
www.djerassi.org

Dorset Colony
Dorset Colony House Residencies are available to writers for intensive work periods, from one week to two months. As many as eight writers are in residence at a time, accommodated in private rooms in a turn-of-the-century historic house in Dorset village, southern Vermont. Write to John Nassivera, Director Dorset Colony House PO Box 519 Dorset, VT 05251.

Europäisches Übersetzer-Kollegium
Located in Straelen, Germany, the Europäisches Übersetzer-Kollegium offers residencies to translators who have published at least two longer translations and are working on a translation project commissioned by a publisher.
www.uebersetzerkollegium.com

The Hambidge Center, Residency Program
The Hambidge Residency Program provides two to eight week residencies to creative individuals working in a wide variety of creative disciplines. 
www.hambidge.org

Headlands Center for the Arts, Artists in Residence Program
The Artist in Residence Program offers fully sponsored, live-in and live-out residencies to around 35 artists each year from March to November. 
www.headlands.org

Helen Wulitzer Foundation of New Mexico
Residencies in Taos, with free housing and utilities, are available to visual artists, writers, and composers from April through September, and on a limited basis from October through March.
www.wurlitzerfoundation.org

International Retreat for Writers at Hawthornden Castle
The International Retreat for Writers offers month long residencies at Hawthornden Castle (Midlothian, Scotland) to published creative writers.
www.transartists.nl

Millay Colony for the Arts
Residencies provide work space, meals, and sleeping accommodations for qualified writers, composers, and visual artists for a period of one month. The Colony can accommodate six artists monthly.
www.millaycolony.org/apply

North Wood University, Residence Program
The Creative Minds in Residence Program is open to individuals in all professions who wish to pursue innovative and creative ideas. Fellows engage in a short term residency, primarily to work with students during the academic year and should be able to work independently and live cooperatively.
www.northwood.edu

Ragdale Foundation 
Ragdale offers residencies to writers, artists, and composers an opportunity to work undisturbed on their own projects. Comfortable living and working space is provided in historic buildings adjoining a large nature preserve.
www.ragdale.org/residencyprogram

Ucross Foundation
The Ucross Foundation offers residencies of two weeks to two months to writers and other creative artists. There is no charge for room, board, or studio space.
www.ucrossfoundation.org/

Villa Montalvo
The Artist Residency Program awards artists, composers, and writers one-to-three-month residences at the 1912 Villa Montalvo in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
www.montalvoarts.org

‡For more, see PEN’s Grants & Awards online database; announcements also appear in ALTA Newsletter (American Literary Translators Association), published three times a year. For information on grants, contact the literature programs of state arts councils and cultural attachés of foreign embassies.

 

Grants & Fellowships

American Council of Learned Societies
Offers annual grants for translators when doing research in preparation for a book.
www.acls.org

American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Women’s Caucus Editing and Translation Fellowship
The ASECS Women’s Caucus Editing and Translation Fellowship is an annual award of $1000 to support an editing or a translation work in progress of an eighteenth-century primary text on a feminist or a Women’s Studies subject.
www.asecs.press.jhu.edu

Binational Fulbright Commission for Educational Exchange Between Denmark and the U.S.A. 
The Binational Commission (Fulbright) Scholarships for study and research in Denmark are available to university graduates with a specific research program
fulbright.state.gov

Binational Fulbright Commission in Jordan
The Binational Fulbright Commission awards grants and fellowships to Jordanian students, teachers and scholars to study, teach, lecture and conduct research in the United States and to American academics to engage in similar activities in Jordan.
www.fulbright-jordan.org

Carnegie Fund for Authors
Offers grants-in-aid to qualified, published translators who have suffered a financial emergency as a result of illness or injury.
www.artisttrust.org

Dutch Foundation for Literature 
The Dutch Foundation aims to stimulate the quality and availability of Dutch and Frisian literature, as well as literature translated into Dutch and Frisian by providing work and travel grants, and additional fees to writers and translators of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, children’s books and drama.>> More
www.fondsvoordeletteren.nl

The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature
Foreign publishers wishing to publish translations of Dutch or Frisian literature, including children’s literature, quality non-fiction and poetry, may apply for a subsidy towards the translation costs.
www.nlpvf.nl

The French Book Office, French Voices
The Book Office, PEN American Center, the Center for Literary Translation (Columbia University) and the French American Cultural Exchange have launched the French Voices program to support the costs of translating books from French to English. Each title receives a grant of $6,000.
www.frenchbooknews.com

The French Book Office, Hemmingway Grants
The Hemingway Grants assists projects which are not already supported by the Centre National du Livre, and allows publishers whose applications have met our selection criteria to receive financial help through funds granted by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S. The grant awarded for each work varies from $1,000 to $6,000. 
http://www.frenchculture.org/

Fulbright Grants 
(Annual), from Institute of International Education.
www.iie.org

Fulbright Program in Hungary 
Annual grants from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, for a literary translator who wishes to work with Hungarian colleagues on the translation of Hungarian literary works into English.
www.fulbright.hu

Goethe-Institut New York, Translation Grant Program
The Goethe-Institut’s translation grant programme provides support to non-German publishers with the publication of translated German titles.
www.goethe.de

Ireland Literature Exchange, Translation Grant Program
This program offers translation grants to publishers and funds the translation of literature from Ireland into foreign languages, and the translation of foreign literature into English or Irish.
www.irelandliterature.com

International Research & Exchanges Board
Advanced research grants available to translators for research in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
www.irex.org

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation offers fellowships for research or exceptional creative ability in the arts.
www.gf.org

MacDowell Colony Fellowships 
Fellowhips support residences of up to eight weeks for writers and other artists to concentrate on creative work without interruption. Studios and room and board are provided. 
www.macdowellcolony.org/apply.html

Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowships (Phi Beta Kappa) 
Fellowships for advanced study or writing projects dealing with Greek Literature (odd-numbered years) and French literature (even-numbered years).
www.pbk.org

National Endowment for the Arts, Translation Literature Fellowships
Through fellowships to published translators, the Arts Endowment supports projects for the translation of specific works of prose, poetry, or drama from other languages into English. Grants are for $12,500 or $25,000, depending upon the artistic excellence and merit of the project.
www.nea.gov

NEH Translation Grant
From the National Endowment for the Humanities, for scholarly translations into English of works providing insight into the literature of other cultures from ancient times to the present.
www.neh.gov 

The PEN Translation Fund Grants
The PEN Translation Fund provides grants between $2,000–$3,000 to support the translation of book-length works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama that have not previously appeared in English or have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise flawed translation.
www.pen.org

Radcliffe Institute Fellowships 
Radcliffe Institute Fellowships designed to support scholars, scientists, artists, and writers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishments who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts.
www.radcliffe.edu

2010 Susan Sontag Prize for Translation
This $5,000 grant will be awarded to a proposed work of literary translation from Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or Icelandic into English and is open to anyone under the age of 30.
www.susansontag.org

TEDA: Translation Subvention Project 
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey offers conditional grants to corporations such as international institutions, enterprises, companies and foundations for the publication of Turkish cultural, artistic and literary works.
www.tedaproject.gov

The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, Translation Grants
The Witter Bynner Foundation provides grants for the translation of poetry from languages not currently available to English readers and poetry which has not been translated or merits a new translation.
www.bynnerfoundation.org