Contest Guidelines
This contest is open to anyone with less than three years’ experience as a professional translator including students. JAT membership not required. Previous entrants (except first and second place winners) are welcome to enter again. The submission deadline is November 7 (Sat.).
Japanese-to-English Contest
Download the source text from here
English-to-Japanese Contest
Download the text from the Japanese page
Read the following instructions carefully before accessing the entry form.
・Submit your translation as a Microsoft Word (.docx or .doc) file via the online entry form. Plain text (.txt) files will be accepted only if you are unable to submit a Word file.
・Be sure to choose "japanese to english/日英” and not "english to japanese/英日" if you are entering the Japanese-to-English category.
・Your file should only contain the translated text.
・Do not write your name or comments anywhere in the file.
・Name your file as follows ("contest", "e", "first name" then "family name" with a single space in between) in all lower case letters: contest e your name (e.g., contest e john doe)
・Note that clicking the submit button will submit your application right away. There will be no confirmation page prior to submission. After you press the submit button, a green bar with the word THANK YOU in it will appear below JAT Translation Contest Entry Form at the top of the screen. This means the file has been sent.
・You will not receive a confirmation email immediately after submission. Submissions will be confirmed by return email notifying your ID number to be sent by early December.
・You can enter both Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese categories but only one entry per person is allowed in each category.
・If you have any problem sending the entry form please contact [email protected]
Disqualification
You may be disqualified if:
・Your entry application is incomplete or submitted without translation file,
・Your file name is incorrect (Check again before you submit your application),
・Your entry is received after the deadline,
・You enter under someone else’s name,
・You submit work done by someone else,
・You use AI or any other form of machine translation to produce a complete translation or a significant portion of a translation, or
・You are dishonest about your qualifications (the contest is open to anyone with less than three years’ experience as a professional translator).
Contest Schedule
2026
October 1 (Thu.): Source texts and Contest Guidelines available for download
November 7(Sat.): Submission deadline (24:00 JST)
By early December: Your ID number notified by email
2027
By mid-January: Five finalists announced on the JAT website
By early March: 1st- and 2nd-place winners announced on the JAT website and by direct email to the winners.
By late March: Winners' and finalists' translation and judges' commentaries placed on the JAT website.
Judges
Preliminary
Japanese-to-English: Nora Heath, Ko Iwata, George Bourdaniotis
English-to-Japanese: Kiyoshi Chimasu, Seiko Matsushima, Naoko Uchida
Final
Japanese-to-English: Henry Smith, Ruth McCreery, Jonathan Merz
English-to-Japanese: Mayumi Adachi, Yukari Ishihara, Kiyoshi Fujimura
Judging
・Entries will be judged in two stages in accordance with evaluation criteria set by the judging panel.
・Entries are anonymized during the judging period. We will assign an ID number to each entry and notify you of your ID number by early December 2026.
・The ID numbers of the five finalists will be announced on the JAT website by mid-January 2027.
・The names of first and second place winners and finalists will be announced by early March 2027.
・The winners' and finalists' names and translation and judges' commentaries will be placed on the JAT website by late March 2027.
・The decision of the judges is final. No appeals or contesting of the results will be accepted.
Copyright
・All submissions become the property of JAT and will not be returned.
・JAT retains the copyright to all submitted entries.
・JAT reserves all rights to publicize the winners’ names, winning entries, photos and likenesses, and background information on its website and mailing list and in electronic or printed publications.
Awards
The first-place winners will receive prizes worth 100,000 yen (details to be announced later).
The second-place winners will receive prizes worth 50,000 yen (details to be announced later).
All finalists are entitled to one-year complimentary JAT membership.
For further information please contact [email protected].
References:
Anthology of JAT Contest Judges' Commentaries II (beta version, 11th to 22nd contest, 502 pages)
Interview with 21st Annual Translation Contest Winners
22nd contest translations of winners and finalists and judges' commentaries
Inside a Winning Translation: A Panel with JAT Contest Winners (at IJET-34）