ALTA Awards Program

ALTA Awards Program

The American Literary Translators Association awards five major prizes at the annual conference: the National Translation Award in Poetry and Prose, for an exceptional book of translated literature published within the previous year; the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, for an exceptional work of Asian poetry or source text from Zen Buddhism published within the previous year; the Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA), for an exceptional work of Italian prose in English translation; the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award (SUFTA), for an exceptional work of prose by a Spanish (Spain) author in English translation; and the ALTA First Translation Prize for an exceptional debut literary translation into English published within the previous calendar year. We also offer the ALTA Travel Fellowships for emerging translators to attend the annual conference, including the Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellowship for an emerging translator of color or a translator working from an underrepresented diaspora or stateless language.

Submissions are accepted from January through mid-March via our Submittable page only. Please do not send hard copies of books to ALTA directly. Books sent to ALTA will not be considered submitted for the ALTA awards.

Submitters are welcome to submit the same book for more than one award in a given year. Please check the eligibility requirements on each award page.

Any questions about awards may be directed to Communications and Awards Manager Rachael Daum at rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org.

National Translation Award

The National Translation Award (NTA) is awarded annually in poetry and in prose to literary translators who have 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. 2015 was the first year in which the NTA was awarded separately in poetry and prose. Find the full list of winners and judges here.

Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize

Lucien Stryk (1924-2013) was an internationally acclaimed translator of Japanese and Chinese Zen poetry, renowned Zen poet himself, and former professor of English at Northern Illinois University. Stryk wrote, edited, and translated over two dozen volumes during his life. The $6,000 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.

Italian Prose in Translation Award

The Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA) 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 was inaugurated in 2015 and is awarded annually to a translator of a recent work of Italian prose (fiction or literary non-fiction).

Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award

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. This $5,000 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. 

ALTA First Translation Prize

The ALTA First Translation Prize, inaugurated in 2024, recognizes the work of emerging literary translators and their editors. This $3,000 prize ($2,000 bestowed to the translator and $1,000 to the editor) 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.