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AALITRA Translation Awards

The AALITRA Translation Awards aim to acknowledge the wealth of literary translation skills present in the Australian community. Prizes are awarded for a translation of a selected prose text and for a translation of a selected poem, with the focus on a different language each time the prize is offered.


 

AALITRA Translation Awards 2024

 

AALITRA Translation Awards 2024 (French)

The Australian Association for Literary Translation (AALITRA) now invites entries for the 2024 AALITRA Translation Awards.

The AALITRA Translation Awards aim to acknowledge the wealth of literary translation skills present in the Australian community. Prizes are awarded for a translation of a selected prose text and for a translation of a selected poem. The focus of the AALITRA Translation Awards is on a different language each year the awards are offered.

In 2024, the focus language is French.

Texts:
 The prose text for translation is by Chantal Danjou, from D’autres que les hommes, a recent novel not yet published.
 The poetry text is by Marilyne Bertoncini, unpublished poem, December 2023.

Prizes:
 $500 prize for Best Prose Translation
 $500 prize for Best Poetry Translation
 $250 prizes for Honourable Mentions in each category

Prizes this year have been generously donated by ISFAR (Institute for the Study of French Australian Relations

Judges:
Dominique Hecq (Coordinating Judge), Frances Egan, Penny Hueston, Brian Nelson

Awards Ceremony:

At the Awards Ceremony, scheduled for 18 September 2024, winners will be awarded the above monetary prizes, together with book prizes and one year’s additional membership of AALITRA.

Prize-winning entries will be read out at the Awards Ceremony. They will also be published on the AALITRA website and in AALITRA’s peer-reviewed, open-access journal, The AALITRA Review, together with comments from each of the translators regarding their approach to translation.

Closing date: 24 May, 2024

Entries are to be on the Submission Form (see also Conditions of Entry).

All enquiries should be sent to aalitratranslationawards@gmail.com

 


AALITRA Translation Awards 2022

 

 The Australian Association for Literary Translation (AALITRA) now invites entries for the 2022 AALITRA Translation Awards.

 

The AALITRA Translation Awards aim to acknowledge the wealth of literary translation skills present in the Australian community. Prizes are awarded for a translation of a selected prose text and for a translation of a selected poem, with the focus on a different language each time the prize is offered.

 

In 2022, the focus language is Arabic. The prose text for translation is by Ghassan Kanafani. The poetry text is by Soukaina Habiballah. Each text is available from our website.

 

At an Awards Ceremony later in the year, winners will be awarded a cash prize, a book prize, and one year’s membership of AALITRA. An Honourable Mention will be awarded in both sections. Prize-winning entries will be read aloud at the Awards Ceremony, and will be published on the AALITRA website and in AALITRA’s peer-reviewed, open-access journal, The AALITRA Review, along with a few comments from each of the translators.

 

Closing date: June 30, 2022

Entries (see conditions below) and enquiries should be sent to aalitratranslationawards@gmail.com

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Conditions of entry

 

The competition is open only to Australian citizens and permanent residents of any age.

 

By entering, participants consent to their translation being published in The AALITRA Review and on the AALITRA website if it is awarded a prize.

 

There is no entry fee but all entrants are required to become members of AALITRA (https://aalitra.org.au/join-aalitra/). Cost: $10 (Student) or $25 (Full).

 

Only one entry per participant will be accepted: either the prose translation or the poetry translation.

 

Only electronic submissions in Microsoft Word format will be accepted. The translation must be submitted on the official submission form (available from our website), along with proof of the entrant’s Australian citizenship or permanent residency status. The judging process will be completely anonymous, i.e. all entries will be de-identified.

 

Your translation must be entirely your own work.

 

Late or incomplete entries will not be accepted. Once submitted, translations cannot be revised.

 

The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

 

All participants will be notified by email of the outcome of the competition.

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Here is the Submission Form: AALITRA-Trans-Awards-2022-SUBMISSION-FORM-_website

Here is the prose text for 2022: AALITRA AWARDS 2022 – PROSE – KANAFANI – المدفع-1

Here is the poetry text for 2022: AALITRA AWARDS 2022 – POEM – HABIBALLAH – لديّ بيت في مكانٍ ما

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AALITRA Translation Awards 2020

The AALITRA Translation Awards aim to acknowledge the wealth of literary translation skills present in the Australian community. Prizes are awarded for a translation of a selected prose text and for a translation of a selected poem, with the focus on a different source language each time the prize is offered.

In 2020, the source language was Greek. The prose text for translation was by Διονυσία Μούσουρα-Τσουκαλά (Dionysia Mousoura-Tsoukala). The poetry text was by Σ.Σ. Χαρκιανάκης (S. S. Charkianakis).

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2020 AALITRA Translation Awards!

1st Prize PROSE Section: Denise Anagnostou

Hon. Mention PROSE Section: Konstandina Dounis

1st Prize POETRY Section: Efrosini Deligianni

Hon. Mention POETRY Section: Chrissafina Battalis

The winners were awarded a cash prize, a book prize, and one year’s membership of AALITRA.

Prize-winning entries will be published in AALITRA’s peer-reviewed open-access journal, The AALITRA Review, along with a few words from each of the translators.

AALITRA is grateful to the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) for supporting the 2020 AALITRA Translation Awards

 


 AALITRA Translation Prize, 2018

At a ceremony kindly hosted by the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Melbourne, the winners of the AALITRA Translation Prize (2018) were announced. In 2018 the focus language was Indonesian. The prose text for translation was “Surat” by Sapardi Djoko Damono; the poem was “Barangkali” by Amir Hamzah. The judges were four experts in Indonesian literature and translation: Lily Yulianti Farid, Harry Aveling, Anton Alimin and Jennifer MacKenzie.

The winners were:

  • The 1st Prize in the POETRY section was awarded to James Scanlan (NSW).
  • The HIGHLY COMMENDED Prize in the POETRY section was awarded to Keith Foulcher (NSW).
  • The 1st Prize in the PROSE section was awarded to Pamela Allen (TAS).
  • The HIGHLY COMMENDED Prize in the PROSE section was awarded to Sophie Revington (NSW).

Cash prizes were provided by AALITRA. Book prizes were  donated by Text Publishing, Giramondo Publishing and Emeritus Professor Brian Nelson (AALITRA Past President). Prize-winning entries will be published in the Association’s peer-reviewed open-access journal, The AALITRA Review along with a few words from the translators.

AALITRA is grateful to the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Melbourne for its support of the AALITRA Translation Prize (2018).

(L-R) Anton Alimin (judge), Barbara Hatley for Keith Foulcher, James Scanlan, Pamela Allen, Jennifer MacKenzie (judge) and Harry Aveling (judge).

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AALITRA Translation Prize, 2016

 

During a ceremony held at the China Cultural Centre Sydney on Tuesday 13 September 2016 we announced the winners of the 2016 AALITRA Translation Prize. In 2016 the focus language was Chinese, with entrants in the Prose category translating a story by A Yi (阿乙) and those in the Poetry category translating a poem by Rong Rong (荣荣).

There were 24 entries in total and the judges, four experts in Chinese literature and translation – Nicholas Jose (Chair), Isabelle Li, Eric Abrahamsen and Lintao Qi – were impressed by the high quality of the translations.

The winners were:

 

Poetry Section

Winner: (Connie) Guang Pan (NSW); Highly Commended: Luman Ren (Annie) (ACT)

 

Prose Section

Winner: Steven Langsford (SA); Highly Commended: Andrew Endrey (WA)

 

Click here to listen the recording of the Award Ceremony, including Isabelle Li’s presentation “The Wedding Dress Maker”.

Prize-winning entries were published in 2017 in the Association’s peer-reviewed open-access journal, The AALITRA Review along with a few words from each of the translators.

Prizes in each section were donated by the China Cultural Centre in Sydney. Book prizes were donated by Text Publishing, Giramondo and Margaret River Press.

The AALITRA Translation Prize will be next held in 2018.

Winners of the 2016 AALITRA Translation Prize

The winners of the 2016 AALITRA Translation Prize

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Inaugural AALITRA Translation Prize, 2014

For the Inaugural AALITRA Translation Prize in 2014, the focus language was Spanish. The prose text selected was “Antes del almuerzo” by Ana María Moix, and the selected poem was “¿Somos un poema?” by José Luis Reina Palazón. The winners were announced in a Ceremony held at Reader’s Feast Bookstore in Melbourne on 17 September. They were

Prose translation

Winner: Kevin Windle (ACT); Highly Commended: Anthony Cartwright (TAS)

Poetry translation

Winner: Dominique Hecq (VIC); Highly Commended: Jacqueline Buswell (NSW)

The winning entries were published in issue 10 (2015) of The AALITRA Review.

Prizes were donated by Text Publishing and the Embassy of Spain. Additional support for the Prize was provided by Hispabooks Publishing, El Patio Spanish Language School and Reader’s Feast Bookstore. Our thanks to the Jury: Lilit Thwaites (Chair), Peter Boyle, Chris Andrews and Fiona Taler.

Winners, presenters and invited guests. (Photo by Michael Reynolds)

Winners, presenters and invited guests
(Photo by Michael Reynolds)