The first edition of the Babylon Best Young Translator Award, a partner project of the EU Delegation in the country and the Macedonian Translators Association, was announced on the European Day of Languages, 26 September 2013. The competition was officially opened on 2 December 2013.
The award is aimed at young translators, up to 26 years of age, who translate from European languages. It is organised as a competition, whereby entrants send translations of excerpts—around twenty pages in length—from literary works of their choosing. According to the competition requirements, the works may not be older than three years counting from the application deadline, 2 April 2014, the first editions must be published in an EU member state, to be originally written in one of the Union’s official languages, and not to be translated into the target languages included in the competition.
According to the competition criteria, there are first prizes for each of the target languages. Only first prizes are awarded, and they consist in €500 for each of the awarded translation, a one-year membership to the Macedonian Translators Association for the translators, as well as publishing the award-winning translations, partially or in full, in the Kulturen život magazine. Two first prizes were awarded at the first edition of the Babylon Best Young Translator Award: one for the translation from English into Macedonian of an excerpt from Dodger by Terry Pratchett, authored by Ǵurǵica Ilieva and Marija Spirkovska, and one to the translation from English into Turkish for an excerpt from the novel Longbourn by Jo Baker, authored by Aynur Kaso.
At the first competition cycle, the committee received entries from ten source into two target languages. The entries went through three selection rounds.
The award ceremony took place at the EU Info Centre in Skopje, on the European Day of Languages, 26 September 2014. The awards were presented by the Minister of Education and Science, Abdilaqim Ademi, the Head of the Cooperation Department at the EU Info Centre, Martin Klauke, and a representative of the Ministry of Culture, Borče Nikolovski. As the differences among the top three translations were a matter of nuance, even though not initially planned, the Organising Committee decided to give honourable mentions to the translators that placed second and third: to Ilija Trajkovski, for his translation from Polish into Macedonian of an excerpt from Morfina by Szczepan Twardoch, and to Zorica Petkoska and Nikola Ǵelinčeski, for their translation from English into Macedonian of an excerpt from A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin.
The second edition of the Babylon Best Young Translator Award was announced at the award ceremony, and the competition was officially open in December 2014.
http://www.time.mk/c/7742d5a97d/dodelena-nagradata-za-najdobar-mlad-preveduvac-vavilon.html