How is it 2025 already?!
As we roll into another year I try to hunt down another round of Japanese to English translation competitions. There aren’t many new ones (I only found one…) but you still have a few options of rings to throw your hat into!
Once again these are split into two categories: competitions that provide the materials for you to translate, and competitions that expect you to find your own materials.
Japanese to English Translation Competitions 2025
Materials Provided by Competition
The JLPP International Translation Competition and the JAT Contest for New and Aspiring Translators are back again, for aspiring and inexperienced translators to cut their teeth on translation.
10th JLPP International Translation Competition
Japanese to English translation competition. Aimed to “foster emerging translators of Japanese and promote Japanese literature”.
There are two categories which you need to traslate for, contemporary literature AND classical literature.
You have 6 months to translate the pieces but they are always surprisingly difficult and long, so don’t wait until June to start! I highly suggest checking out the previous winners and feedback from judges to get an idea of what they’re looking for.
Also, read all the formatting instructions before you submit!
Translation Content: A short contemporary story & short classic story. (All materials can be downloaded from their website.)
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Contemporary Literature Category
“Nijūninme Rūru” by Inoue Areno
Classic Literature Category
“Iseki Takako Nikki” by Iseki Takako (Annotated by Fukasawa Akio)
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Click here for more details, the source text, and submission application.
Deadline: Must submit application and translation between 1st June – 30th June, 2025 (JST)
Prize: Prize winners will be awarded a certificate and trophy, as well as a monetary prize of 1,000,000 yen for Grand Prize winners and 250,000 yen for Second Prize winners.
Restrictions: Must not have published a book-length translation before. (The organizers have confirmed that light novels don’t count. You can enter if you have translated a light novel.)
Twenty-second Annual JAT Contest for New and Aspiring Translators
The Japan Association of Translators (JAT) is a great organisation for Japanese translators. Their annual translation competition is aimed at beginner translators with less than three years experience.
You always have one month to complete the translation of a generic piece of text that freelancers are likely to translate. This is not literary translation. Finalists get feedback from the judges which is incredibly valuable as a beginner.
More information to come in 2024
Translation Content: Generic document.
Deadline: Competition open only between 1st – 31st October 2025
Prize: JAT membership, feedback, free ticket/travel/accommodation for IJET.
Restrictions: Translator with less than three years experience.
J-Net Translation Competition
This translation competition is for for J-Net members only. J-Net are the Japanese language specialist network of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), a UK-based professional organisation for interpreters and translators.
It costs £30/year to be a J-Net member.
Join J-Net for more information
Materials NOT Provided By Competition
These competitions are for people who have already completed (or mostly completed) translated works (mostly literature or poetry). Some ask for published works, while others ask for non-published (but available for print) works, and some also ask that publishers submit entrees.
A few of these have deadlines in February. If you’re unable to make it this year, I recommend preparing for next year!
These are in order of their submission deadline.
John Dryden Translation Competition 2023 – 2024
A literary translation competition for any language translated into English. Pieces can be a poetry, prose, or drama from any period. Winners are responsible for copyright clearance of the pieces they submit.
Entrees cannot have been previously published including web or self-published. They must not have been entered into other competitions.
Click here to see details for entry.
Translation Content: 3000-7000 word unpublished translation of poetry, prose, or drama. (See entry form for formatting details.)
Deadline: 3rd February 2025
Prize: First prize: £400; second prize: £250; third prize: £150; other entries may receive commendations.
All three prizes also include one year’s BCLA membership.
Additional information: The entry fee is £10 sterling for one, £15 for two, or £20 for three entries.
Third Annual Momentum Grant for Early-Career Translators
This is a fairly new competition from Words Without Borders, allowing an early-career translator to pitch a book for potential publication. They aim to “support early-career translators seeking to bring international work into the English-language marketplace.”
You cannot have published a be contracted for a book-length translation. The book you pitch must not have already been translated and the copyrights must be available.
You can find out more information and submissions guidelines here!
Luckily you don’t need to translate the whole book in advance (unlike some other competitions on this list.)
You need:
- a 500-word project description
- a 2,500-word translation sample and the corresponding section of the original text
- author bio, not to exceed 200 words
- translator bio, not to exceed 200 words
- a personal statement on the applicant’s trajectory as a translator and professional goals, not to exceed 300 words
- copyright information for the original text and correspondence from the copyright holder confirming that English-language rights to the book are available (unless the work is in the public domain)
However…
Deadline: 28th February, 2025 (11:59 p.m. EST)
Prize: Book published and $3,000
The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize
This is a new competition started in 2023 for translations into English of full-length Japanese works of literary merit and general interest.
However, this is only for works that have already been published, and must have been published in the UK first.
Prize: The winner is awarded £3,000 and the runner-up is awarded £1,000.
Deadline: 31st March 2025
Restrictions: The translation must have been first published in the UK between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for
the Translation of Japanese Literature 2022-2023
(Donald Keene Translation Competition)
The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University annually awards $6,000 for this competition. A prize is given for the best translation of a modern work or a classical work, or the prize is divided between equally distinguished translations.
This contest says it is restricted to US citizens/residents. However, they occasionally award “outstanding translations by non-citizens or non-permanent-residents of the United States.” The application process is the same for both categories.
Click here for the contest homepage where you can download the guidelines.
Translation Content: Translations must be of book-length Japanese works: novels, collections of short stories, manga, essays, memoirs, drama, or poetry.
Submissions may be unpublished manuscripts, works in press, or books published during the two years prior to the prize year (for the current prize, this means publication dates in 2023 and afterward).
Application process: Published books and works in press should be submitted by publishers; unpublished manuscripts by translators or their agents.
Deadline: June 2025???
Prize: up to $6,000
*PSA* If a “prize” for a “competition” is work that’s not a competition but a job application. Painting work as a “competition” in order to trick aspiring translators to apply to your company is shady as all heck.
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