National Translation Award
The National Translation Award is awarded annually by the American Literary Translators Association for literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. Since 2015 the prize has been awarded separately in categories of prose and poetry. 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. As of 2019 the award is worth $2,500 given to the translator. The award is usually given to translations of previously untranslated contemporary works or first-time translations of older works, but important re-translations have also been honored. The winning translators and books are featured at the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association.
The ALTA also awards the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, Italian Prose in Translation Award, the Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation and the ALTA Travel Fellowships.
Winners
National Translation Award 2007-2014
National Translation Award 2015-Current
2015 marked the first year in which two separate National Translation Awards were given, one for poetry and one for prose.| Year | Genre | Translator | Work | Language | Judges |
| 2015 | Poetry | Pierre Joris | Breathturn into Timestead by Paul Celan | French | Lisa Rose Bradford, Stephen Kessler, Diana Thow |
| 2015 | Prose | William Hutchins | New Waw, Saharan Oasis by Ibrahim al-Koni | Arabic | Pamela Carmell, Jason Grunebaum, Anne Magnan-Park |
| 2016 | Poetry | Hilary Kaplan | Rilke Shake by Angélica Freitas | Portuguese | Adriana Jacobs, Karen Kovacik, Cole Swensen |
| 2016 | Prose | Elizabeth Harris | Tristano Dies: A Life by Antonio Tabucchi | Italian | Karen Emmerich, Andrea Labinger, Marian Schwartz |
| 2017 | Poetry | Daniel Borzutzky | Valdivia by Galo Ghigliotto | Spanish | Ani Gjika, Katrine Øgaard Jensen, Gregory Racz |
| 2017 | Prose | Esther Allen | Zama by Antonio di Benedetto | Spanish | Carol Apollonio, Ottilie Mulzet, Eric M. B. Becker |
| 2018 | Poetry | Katrine Øgaard Jensen | Third-Millennium Heart by Ursula Andkjær Olsen | Danish | Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Jennifer Feeley, Sawako Nakayasu |
| 2018 | Prose | Charlotte Mandell | Compass by Mathias Énard | French | Esther Allen, Tess Lewis, Jeremy Tiang |
| 2019 | Poetry | Bill Johnston | Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania by Adam Mickiewicz | Polish | Anna Deeny Morales, Cole Heinowitz, Sholeh Wolpe |
| 2019 | Prose | Karen Emmerich | What’s Left of the Night by Ersi Sotiropoulos | Greek | Bonnie Huie, Charlotte Mandell, Jeffrey Zuckerman |
Lucien Styrk Asian Translation Prize
Since 2009 the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize is awarded at the same time as the NTA by the ALTA and recognizes the best translation into English of book-length Asian works. It is named for Lucien Stryk, an American Zen poet and translator. The winning translator is award $5000.| Year | Translator | Book and author | Language |
| 2010 | Red Pine | In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu by Wei Ying-wu | Chinese |
| 2011 | Charles Egan | Clouds Thick, Whereabouts Unknown: Poems by Zen Monks of China | Chinese |
| 2012 | Don Mee Choi | All the Garbage of the World, Unite! by Kim Hyesoon | Korean |
| 2013 | Lucas Klein | Notes on the Mosquito by Xi Chuan | Chinese |
| 2014 | Jonathan Chaves | Every Rock a Universe: The Yellow Mountains and Chinese Travel Writing | Chinese |
| 2015 | Eleanor Goodman | Something Crosses My Mind by Wang Xiaoni | Chinese |
| 2016 | Sawako Nakayasu | The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa by Chika Sagawa | Japanese |
| 2017 | Jennifer Feeley | Not Written Words by Xi Xi | Chinese |
| 2018 | Bonnie Huie | Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin | Chinese |
| 2019 | Don Mee Choi | Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon | Korean |
Italian Prose in Translation Award
Since 2015 the Italian Prose in Translation Award recognizes the importance of contemporary Italian prose and promotes the translation of Italian works into English. This $5,000 prize will be awarded annually to a translator of a recent work of Italian prose.| Year | Translator | Book and author | Language |
| 2015 | Anne Milano Appel | Blindly by Claudio Magris | Italian |
| 2016 | Ann Goldstein | The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante | Italian |
| 2017 | Matthew Holden | We Want Everything by Nanni Balestrini | Italian |
| 2018 | Elizabeth Harris | For Isabel, A Mandala by Antonio Tabucchi | Italian |
| 2019 | Simon Carnell and Erica Segre | The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti | Italian |