Elizabeth Constantinides Translation Prize

Elizabeth Constantinides Translation Prize

Submissions Invited for the 2024 Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize

The MGSA is pleased to announce the 2024 Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize Competition for original, new translations into English of a literary work published in Modern Greek. A prize of $500 will be awarded for a piece of Modern Greek literature (poetry, prose, theatre) translated into English. We welcome work by scholars of Modern Greek and other fields and languages as well as creative writers, students, and anyone knowledgeable of Greek and English engaged in the work of translation.

This competition is intended to raise the profile of contemporary Greek literature in English and to award translation as a creative, intellectually meaningful exercise. Established in 1995 and administered by the MGSA, the Prize honors the memory of Elizabeth Constantinides (1932-1992, Ph.D. in Greek and Latin from Columbia University), who taught Modern Greek language and literature at Queens College of CUNY from 1978 to 1992, wrote on Alexandros Papadiamantis, and translated twelve short stories by Papadiamantis, published as Tales from a Greek Island (Johns Hopkins University Press,1987). Constantinides served on the Executive Committee of the MGSA and was awarded the 1987 prize of the Society of Literary Translators in Athens, Greece.

The winner will formally be announced and congratulated at the 2024 MGSA Symposium.

RULES FOR SUBMISSION

The translation must be from Modern Greek into English. Work from any literary genre—poetry, prose, or drama—will be considered, including excerpts from longer works. The submission should be between 15 (minimum) and 30 pages (maximum) in length; longer submissions will not be considered. Both published and unpublished submissions are eligible; published submissions must have been published within three years prior to the next deadline for submissions.

Each project may be submitted only once and may not be resubmitted; only one submission per translator is allowed for each iteration of the prize. Translators are not required to be members of the MGSA when submitting their work.

The submission should include: the English translation; the Greek source text; a cover letter; and a one-page translator’s statement. The cover letter should include the name of the title and author of the translated work, as well as the translator’s name, mailing address, and e-mail address. The one-page translator’s statement should explain why the particular Greek text was chosen and what goals and/or principles were employed in the translation. The translator’s name must not appear on the translation itself or in the translator’s statement. The translation itself must be typed, double-spaced in 12pt standard font (Times, Times New Roman, Palatino, Baskerville, Georgia), and printed on one side only of standard letter-size paper.

Submissions should be sent as PDF attachments to [email protected]

For more information: https://mgsa.org/Prizes/Constant.html