Submission Rules

The new Enlightener, Best Translation Prize was established in 2020.
It is awarded annually to the best books in two categories, Humanities, and Natural Sciences and STEM.
We seek projects that showcase outstanding translation combined with excellent work by the editing team, as well as the publisher’s efforts to promote the book among Russian readers. It is important to note that the high quality of the original text is a prerequisite for entering the competition. We engage professional experts who speak the book’s original language to evaluate the quality of the translation.

The competition is open to both first-time Russian translations of books and new translations of books that have been published previously.
The winners of Enlightener, Best Translation Prize receive €5,000, while finalists are awarded €750. The award will be divided between the editors and translators of the winning and finalist books at the applicant’s discretion.

“The Enlightener, Best Translation Prize is a response to the current situation: a substantial number of popular science books are being translated into Russian and published in Russia. High-quality translation requires considerable effort. Often, it is not well-rewarded, but the results of this work greatly impact the final Russian edition. Different individuals and publishers approach this task in various ways. I would venture to guess that Dmitry Zimin wanted to understand the state of the translated popular science book market. Regardless of the reason, I am drawn to this novelty aspect and the challenge of disentangling the complex discourses.” Alexei Semikhatov.

The application must be submitted online in the appropriate section of the Prize website.