Italian Translation Scholarship

The Translation and Italian Programs in the Department of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures of the University of Iowa are pleased to announce the First Italian Translation Contest.

The competition is intended to highlight the work of UI Italian students engaged in the meaningful and creative process of translation. Students majoring or minoring in Italian or translation are invited to submit English translations of an Italian text of their choice.

Eligibility requirements

1. Entrants submitting translations for the contest must be University of Iowa undergraduate students majoring or minoring in Italian or translation.

2. Entries must be the original work of the student. The reuse of existing (ex. published) translations, in whole or in part, is prohibited and leads to disqualification. The use of print and online dictionaries is permitted, but AI-generated submissions are not allowed and result in disqualification.

Submission rules and guidelines

1. Students may choose to translate into English any literary text (or excerpt) originally written in Italian in any genre (e.g. fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction).

2. Only one submission per student is allowed.

3. The maximum length of the translation is 2,500 words.

4. Each entry should contain the following information:

• Entrant’s first and last names

• Entrant’s e-mail address

• Title, author, and year of publication of the original Italian text

• A copy of the original Italian text

• Entrant’s translation

• A brief (maximum 500 words) introduction to the text and the translation

5. Files accepted are .doc, .docx, and .pdf.

6. Entries must be submitted using the online submission form by Sunday, November 23 at 11:59 pm.

Judging

1. Entries will be judged by a contest committee comprised of UI faculty and graduate students.

2. The contest committee will award a $500 prize and two honorable mentions.

3. Translations will be evaluated on their ability to capture the meaning and voice of the original text. All decisions of the judges are final. The contest organizers reserve the right to disqualify entries which do not conform to the stated contest rules and criteria.

4. Contest winners will be announced in an event held in the CLCL (120 PH) on December 8, 2025. More information about this event will be publicized closer to the date. Contest winners and runners-up will be notified by e-mail.

5. Translations or excerpts of the translations will be published on the Italian and/or Translation programs’ webpages and/or social media pages.