2026 American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prizes

The American-Scandinavian Foundation has announced the opening of its 46th annual competition for outstanding translations of poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose written by a 20th- or 21st-century author from the Nordic region (Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Sápmi).

Beginning with this year’s competition, ASF will award the Turið Sigurðardóttir Translation Prize, honoring the best translation from a work of Faroese or Icelandic literature into English. The prize includes a $2,000 award, a bronze medallion, and publication in Scandinavian Review. This new award has been made possible through the generosity of acclaimed translator and poet Randi Ward, a two-time recipient of the Nadia Christensen Prize. The new prize is named in honor of Turið Sigurðardóttir, trailblazing professor emerita of Faroese language and literature at the University of the Faroe Islands.

Four other prizes will be awarded this year: the Nadia Christensen Prize, which recognizes an outstanding translation of a literary text from a Nordic language into English and which now includes a $5,000 award, doubled from its previous amount of $2,500; the Leif and Inger Sjöberg Prize, which recognizes distinguished effort by an individual whose literary translations from a Nordic language have not previously been published and includes a $2,000 award; the Wigeland Prize, which recognizes the best translation from Norwegian by a Norwegian and includes a $2,000 award; and The Inger and Jens Bruun Translation Prize, supported by Scan Design Foundation, which recognizes the best Danish translation and includes a $2,000 award. All four prize recipients will also have an excerpt of their translations published in Scandinavian Review (ASF’s illustrated journal) and will receive a commemorative bronze medallion.

The 2026 Translation Prize Competition is open through September 15th, 2026.

To read the guidelines and our full press release, or to submit an application, please click here.

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