The Literature Translation Institute of Korea announced the winners of the 2024 Korea Translation Award on Wednesday, recognizing 20 translators for their contributions to translating Korean literature, including three Grand Prize recipients.
This year’s grand prizes were awarded to Lee Seung-min and Julio Cesar Abad Vidal for their Korean to Spanish translation of Kim Tak-hwan’s historical crime novel “Death by Fiction.”
The judging committee praised their work for its “in-depth research and its role as an excellent guide to this expansive novel set in the Joseon Dynasty, making it accessible to international readers.”
Georgij Nowossjelow received the Grand Prize for his Russian translation of Sohn Won-pyung’s coming-of-age novel “Almond,” which the judging panel lauded for “skillfully adapting the original writing style to create a highly readable and faithful translation.”
The annual Korean Literature Award was established in 1993 to recognize translators who have contributed to facilitating communication between Korea and the international literary scene.
It considers translated titles published over a three-year period (2021-2023), with works categorized into three language groups based on the global reach and influence of each language. Group 1 includes English, French, Spanish and German; Group 2 includes Russian, Arabic, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese; and Group 3 covers all other languages, with the Group 3 selection based on the cumulative number of published works.
Grand prizes are awarded to one translation from each group, with eligible languages rotating annually. This year, Spanish from Group 1 and Russian from Group 2 were selected for the top honors, receiving 20 million won ($14,138) in prize money.
The annual prize also recognized 17 aspiring translators with the Rookie Award -- nine from fiction, four from film and four from webtoon categories. Each winner receives a 5 million won cash prize.
The Rookie Award saw a surge in submissions, with entries increasing by 25 percent over the past year -- from 279 in 2022, to 362 in 2023, and 453 in 2024.
The award ceremony was scheduled to take place Wednesday.
