About
About NULTA
An award for undergraduate literary translators, given once a year, free to enter, and read anonymously.
What we are trying to do
The humanities are contracting. Departments are shrinking, language programs are being consolidated or closed, and the argument for reading across cultures is being made less often than it used to be.
Translation is where that argument stops being abstract. It is slow, exacting work that cannot be done at a distance — you have to sit with a text written by someone whose world is not yours and find a way to carry it over intact. Nobody finishes a translation with the same understanding of the original that they started with.
NULTA exists to put that work in front of readers who will take it seriously, and to say plainly that it is worth doing.
Why undergraduates
Undergraduates translate constantly. It happens in seminars, in language courses, and late at night for no reason at all — and then it stays in a folder, because the venues that exist are built for people further along.
This award is built for the undergraduate stage instead. That single decision shapes everything else about it: the 1,000-word limit, which makes a serious entry possible alongside a full course load; the absence of an entry fee; the open eligibility across every major; and the anonymous reading, so that work is judged on the page rather than on a reputation nobody has built yet.
Who runs it
NULTA is organized by a team of Brown University undergraduates. It is an independent award — not a university program, and not sponsored or endorsed by any institution.
The honors
Each year the award recognizes five translations across three tiers.
$500
NULTA Winner
The year’s highest honor, awarded to a single translation.
$250
Distinguished Finalist
Awarded to the runner-up.
$50
Special Recognition×3
Awarded to three translations of particular merit.
Prizes are awarded as cash. NULTA does not take publication rights to any translation submitted to it — your work remains yours. What happens to a winning translation afterward is set out in the Rights and Permissions policy.
Getting involved
If you are an undergraduate, check the eligibility rules and then read the submission guidelines.
If you are a faculty member or graduate student, we are recruiting readers, and the commitment is smaller than you might expect — see For Faculty and Graduate Students.