Don’t judge a book by its cover and neither necessarily by its author. Foreign literature can be ruined in translation.

Several leading translators have established an award for members of their silent craft, to honor those ultimately responsible for some of the finest foreign works published in Japanese.

The Best Translation Award will honor works published in 2014 and will consider everything from literature to song lyrics. The only translations that will not be considered are those penned by the judges themselves.

Readers can submit recommendations online until the end of January, and the winner will be decided in April.

The project is unusual in that it was financed via a crowdfunding website. Other literary awards tend to have the backing of publishers or local governments.

It was initiated by Ken Nishizaki, an author and anthropologist who is known for translating the works by A. E. Coppard, Virginia Wolf, Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway.

Four other renowned translators are on board — Motoyuki Shibata, Sachiko Kishimoto, Mizuhito Kanehara and Miho Matsunaga — who will serve as judges.

There are several categories. Translators can be nominated for their classical work but also anything from science fiction to music lyrics, Nishizaki said.

Fan publications and electronic books are also eligible, and the original works can be in any language. More.

See: The Japan Times

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