Winners Announced: China International Translation Contest

By Bruce Humes, published

Winners of the "2013 China International Translation Contest," co-hosted by the State Council Information Office, Chinese Writer Association and the China International Publishing Group, have been announced. According to 国际翻译大赛, the organizing committee provided 30 pieces of contemporary Chinese short stories from which to choose, and 1,006 renditions were received from over 30 countries in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.

Among the winning entries, almost half were translated by citizens of countries other than China, while about one-quarter were by a Chinese citizen working solo, and another quarter were co-translated by a Chinese and foreign translator.

The winners of the English section are:

1st prize: Nicky Harman for her rendering of Jia Pingwa’s 倒流河

2nd prize: Philip Hand; Dana Lutenegger

3rd prize: 郝福合, Breanna Chia; Zachary Haluza; 林彬; William G. Carpenter & 白文革; and Damon T. Cagle

For more details in Chinese, including a longer list of winners (提名奖), see here.

Comments

# 1.   

My god it actually happened! Congratulations Nicky! And Phil! And the rest of you! Are the pieces going to be published anywhere accessible?

Eric Abrahamsen, August 25, 2014, 3:16a.m.

# 2.   

The eventual list of judges differed from those originally announced when the competition was launched, so here they are. (If anyone can manage the Arabic one, please email Nicky Harman through Paper Republic and I will correct it on the list.)

We have been told that they will be published. No further details yet. Watch this spot.

Nicky Harman, August 25, 2014, 11:17a.m.

# 3.   

Congratulations to all of the winners! I am not a professional translator, so I am quite honored to have been recognized.

Dana Lutenegger, August 25, 2014, 11:48a.m.

# 4.   

Congratulations! Any chance the winning translators could post a short excerpt of the winning pieces? Maybe share a paragraph or two? Would love to read...

Helen Wang, August 25, 2014, 11:51a.m.

# 5.   

We should figure out what the publication situation is before we go posting things, but I certainly hope we can do excerpts!

Dana, maybe you ought to consider "professional" translation! If you'd like to be added to the translators directory, please email me

Eric Abrahamsen, August 25, 2014, 12:12p.m.

# 6.   

Here's the list of winners in all five languages:

http://www.tac-online.org.cn/ch/tran/2014-08/21/content_7169666.htm

Bruce, August 25, 2014, 5:25p.m.

# 7.   

Wow, that's fantastic! Nicky and Philip and the other winners: huge congratulations! Can't wait to read!

Chenxin , August 26, 2014, 8:35a.m.

# 8.   

Wow, that's fantastic! Nicky and Philip and the other winners: huge congratulations! Can't wait to read!

Chenxin , August 26, 2014, 8:35a.m.

# 9.   

Frances Weightman of Leeds University Chinese Studies has kindly found out the name of the Egyptian judge on the Arabic panel. It is Dr Majdi Mustafa Amin Ahmad.

Nicky Harman, August 26, 2014, 4:27p.m.

# 10.   

Huge congratulations to all the winners!!

Can't wait to read the other winning pieces! I'm sure there's so much I can learn from them (I got 2nd and 3rd prize for French and still can't believe it since I've just finished my studies and it was my first real shot at literary translation...)

Also, I've been a long time (silent) reader of Paper Republic and wanted to thank you guys for the amazing work you do here.

Coraline Jortay, August 27, 2014, 7:21p.m.

# 11.   

I find it kind of weird that they got the collection in the original language published LAST year (but the prize translations are nowhere to be seen)! ==

Here it is: http://item.jd.com/11330210.html

Sandy Li, August 28, 2014, 7:34a.m.

# 12.   

Thanks, Coraline, and congratulations! Out of curiosity, how did you get both 2nd and 3rd prizes?

Eric Abrahamsen, August 28, 2014, 11:08a.m.

# 13.   

I was lucky to have a bit of time on my hands this year, which allowed me to translate three short stories for the contest( 《上边》《信》and 《果院》)aside from my thesis.

Actually, I didn't even know it was possible to get more than one prize, I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw it!

Coraline Jortay, August 29, 2014, 12:52a.m.

# 14.   

Please take a look at the emotional messages left by the contestants of China, they all felt liked deceived by the organizers!The deadline of submission and outcome had been extended without publicly announced and the evaluation process was not convincing enough and the great works of the winners haven't been publicized.

a huang, September 26, 2014, 6:16a.m.

*

Your email will not be published
Raw HTML will be removed
Try using Markdown:
*italic*
**bold**
[link text](http://link-address.com/)
End line with two spaces for a single line break.

*
*