Translation Prizes and Awards UK
The Corneliu M Popescu Prize for Poetry in Translation
Named after Corneliu M Popescu, translator of one of Romania's leading poets, Mihai Eminescu The Popescu European Poetry Translation Prize has been awarded biennially by The Poetry Society for a volume of poetry translated from a European language into English. If you would like to be informed when the competition is relaunched, please email marketing@poetrysociety.org.uk
Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize
The Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize is an annual prize, which focuses on a different language each year and aims to recognise and celebrate the achievements of young translators at the start of their careers. The prize is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 34, with no restriction on country of residence. Winners receive £1,000, a selection of Harvill Secker titles.
The John Dryden Translation Competition
The British Comparative Literature Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation (University of East Anglia) jointly sponsor the annual John Dryden Translation Competition. The School of Languages, Culture and Society at the University of Leeds currently hosts the competition.
Prizes are awarded for the best unpublished literary translations from any language into English. Literary translation includes poetry, prose, or drama from any period.
The Society of Authors administers prizes for published translations into English from a variety of languages.
The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation is an annual award of £3,000, established by Banipal Magazine and the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature, for published translations
The Vondel Prize is a biennial award of €5000 for translation into English of full-length Dutch language works of literary merit and general interest. Named after the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century, Joost van den Vondel, the prize was first awarded in 1996 and is sponsored by the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.
The John Florio Prize is a biennial award of £2,000 for translations into English of full-length Italian works of literary merit and general interest. Established in 1963 and named for the writer-translator John Florio, who lived in London from 1555-1625, the prize is generously sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute and the Society of Authors.
The Society of Authors and the Goethe-Institut, London biennial Goethe-Institut Award for New Translation. Following on from the German Embassy Award for Translators, which was first presented in 2010 with the support of the German Embassy in London, the award is open to British translators of literature who translate from German into the English language, including translators who have been resident in the UK for the past three years.
The TA First Translation Prize is an annual £2,000 prize for a debut literary translation into English published in the UK and Ireland. The Prize is shared between the translator and their editor. It was established in 2017 and generously endowed by Daniel Hahn, with support from the British Council.
For further details about all the above prizes and whether they include children’s literature please contact prizes@societyofauthors.org
The Stephen Spender Prize is an annual competition for poetry in translation, with categories for young people (14-and-under, 16-and-under, and 18-and-under) as well as an open category for adults. All entrants must be UK or Irish citizens or residents, or pupils at a British School overseas. Translate into English any poem from any language – ranging from Arabic to Uzbek, from Danish to Somali—and win cash prizes!
Translation and the Yoto Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals
The Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in writing and illustration for children and young people respectively and are unique in being judged by librarians. In 2015 the eligibility criteria for the Yoto Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals were changed to allow books in translation to be considered for the awards.
Updated October 2022
