Karel Čapek Medal for Translation from a Language of Limited Diffusion

FIT has an international translation award designed to promote the translation of literary works written in languages of limited diffusion. The objectives of the award are to improve the quality of such literary translations and to draw attention to the role of translators in bringing the peoples of the world closer together in terms of culture.

2017 winner

György Buda
nominated by the Austrian Association of Literary and Scientific Translators (AALST)

Winners of the Karel Čapek Medal

RULES

(Approved by the FIT Council at its meeting in Geneva in April 1998)

Article 1

The International Federation of Translators (FIT) has an international translation award designed to promote the translation of literary works written in languages of limited diffusion. The objectives of the award are to improve the quality of such literary translations and to draw attention to the role of translators in bringing the peoples of the world closer together in terms of culture.

Article 2

Karel Čapek was a famous Czech author of fiction and non-fiction literature. The KAREL ČAPEK MEDAL was presented for the first time at the Xllth FIT Congress in 1990, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Karel Čapek’s birth, which is observed as a UNESCO anniversary. The medal may be awarded either for a single translation of outstanding quality or for the entire body of work of a literary translator of books written in languages of limited diffusion.

Article 3

This medal shall be awarded at FIT World Congresses, pursuant to the decision of an international jury as provided in Article 5.

Article 4

Candidates must be nominated by a FIT member and must be members in good standing of the nominating organization. No FIT member may nominate more than one candidate for this award each time it is announced.

Article 5

The medal shall be awarded on the basis of a decision made by an international jury consisting of at least five members appointed by the FIT Executive Committee, which shall also nominate the jury chairperson. Jury members may be re- appointed. The jury shall deliberate electronically and shall decide on a winner no later than three months prior to the opening of the Congress during which the prize is to be awarded. The jury must be selected in such a way as to ensure that it always includes experts in the language groups covered by the nominations.

Article 6

The award shall be an honorary prize consisting of a Certificate of Merit and a Medal bearing a likeness of Karel Čapek, provided by the Czech Literary Translators’ Guild.

Article 7

Nominations shall be submitted on the official form and shall include the following:

a) A general report on the nominee’s merits and/or work, including in particular his or her titles, any awards which he or she may have received and articles written about his or her work.

b) A detailed analysis of the merits of the translation under consideration or of the quality of all the works of the candidate.

Nominations should be submitted in both French and English if at all possible, otherwise in one of the two languages

Article 8

Nominations shall be submitted in electronic format to the FIT secretariat no later than six months prior to the opening of the Congress at which the prize is to be awarded.

Article 9

Anything not provided for in these rules may be decided by the FIT Awards Committee.

• Information booklet
• Nomination_forms