Terms & Eligibility

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1. Terms

2. Eligibility

3. FAQ

Terms

• The French-American Foundation and Florence Gould Foundation award two annual prizes, one in fiction, and one in nonfiction.
• The prizes are for outstanding published English translations of prose originally written in French.
• Each winning translator is the sole recipient of the $10,000 prize. It is at the Jury’s discretion to split the prize equally between multiple winning translators in a specific category.
• The French-American Foundation does not directly support works of translation in progress. The monetary prize is awarded directly to the translator.
• Prize money will be bestowed at an Awards Ceremony in the spring or summer of 2025. In the event that the winning translator cannot participate in the ceremony, the Foundation reserves the right to give the prize to a second-choice finalist who is able to attend and promote the Prize and awards ceremony.
• Translators who have won in previous years must wait at least three years to be eligible to win again in the same category.
• The Translation Prize cannot be won more than three times in a lifetime by the same translator for either category.
• It is at the Jury’s discretion to award an Honorary Prize, including to translators who may have won the Translation Prize three times. There is no monetary component to the Honorary Prize.

Eligibility

• Translations for consideration for the 38th Annual Translation Prize must have been published for the first time in the United States between January 1 and December 31, 2024.
• Only book-length translations will be accepted.
• All categories of fiction and non-fiction works are eligible, with the exception of poetry, technical, scientific and reference works, graphic novels, and children’s literature.
• Self-published books and reprints are not eligible.
• Although all eligible books must have been published in the United States, translators may be of any nationality.
• Works representing a collaboration by two translators are eligible, but anthologies in which an editor has collected the work of a number of translators will not be considered.
• For works selected as finalists, it is the responsibility of the submitting party to provide the French-American Foundation with an appropriate number of hard copies of the French and English versions in a timely manner.
• Submissions that fail to meet these criteria will be removed from consideration.

FAQ

Who can submit?

Any one party may submit, including publicists, publishers, agents, translators, etc.

Can I submit more than one work for consideration?

Yes, submitting parties can make multiple submissions given they meet the eligibility criteria.

Are e-books eligible?

Translations published as e-books within the eligible time frame will be considered for the prize, even if their printed counterparts are published later. However, please note that finalists are required to submit hard copies of their translations to the jury.

Are self-published translations eligible?

No. Self-published translations are not eligible for consideration.

Are short story/essay collections eligible?

Yes. So long as all short stories/essays in the submission were translated from French to English, and the submission was published in the United States within the eligible time frame, short story/essay collections are eligible for consideration. Please note that all short stories within the collection must fall under either the fiction or nonfiction categories (i.e., short stories within a single collection cannot be a combination of fiction and nonfiction stories).

Are poems, plays, graphic novels, lectures, or translations of live performances eligible?

No. Only fiction and nonfiction translations, published in the United States within the eligible time frame, will be considered.

Is children’s literature eligible?

No. Children’s literature is not eligible for consideration.

Are reprints of translations eligible?

Reprints are not eligible for consideration unless substantive changes have been made to the original translation.

Is my submission eligible in the event that the translator cannot attend the awards ceremony in person?

While conferral of the Translation Prize is conditional upon the translator appearing in person at the awards ceremony, translators unable to attend the ceremony may be eligible for an honorary (non-monetary) award at the jury’s discretion.

May I submit a translation if the translator is deceased?

Yes. While the translator will not be eligible for a monetary award, they may be eligible for an honorary award at the jury’s discretion.