Pitch-Perfect Translation Grant

The SCBWI Pitch-Perfect Translation Grant assists children’s book translators in the development of a specific translation project into English, which is not currently under contract. Up to two winners will be selected annually.

Entrants will submit a written pitch of up to 500 words and a short translation sample of up to 500 words from the work being pitched. Each winner will receive $500 and the opportunity to craft a longer sample of up to 4000 words, which will be made available on a secure webpage and presented to a hand-selected group of editors, along with the pitch.

Special consideration will be given to emerging translators and to works translated from underrepresented languages.

Deadline: Submissions accepted from July 1 to July 31

Announcement and payment of grant: October

Winners’ pitches and longer samples posted on secure webpage at the end of 2024.

Eligibility

You must be a current SCBWI translator member when your work is submitted, when the grant is announced and payment remitted, and when your work is posted on the secure webpage.
You may not submit a translation that is under contract for publication in any form. If the translation is contracted after submission, please inform SCBWI and withdraw your entry.
Each member may submit one entry per year for the Pitch-Perfect Grant.

Submission Guidelines

The submission portal will open on July 1, 2024. You will find it in the AWARDS TAB of your MEMBER HOME.

Submit the following:

1. A pitch (proposal) for the book you wish to translate into English. Describe in 500 words or less the work and why it should be published in your translation. Your pitch should:

Indicate which of the following English-language children’s publishing categories the book would fit most closely: picture book, early reader, chapter book, middle grade, young adult; fiction or nonfiction.
Identify the source text’s genre, author, language, publisher, and publication date (if published).
Describe why this book deserves to be translated into English now. What is its relevance for the market?
Include a bio of yourself and explain why you are the right translator for this work.

A pitch would typically also address how a work would suit a particular publisher’s list and/or an editor’s tastes, but for this grant, please focus your written pitch on the work and on you. Why are you so passionate about this work that you wish to develop it on-spec?

2. A translation sample from the book, no more than 500 words. This would typically be the opening of the book, but for the Pitch-Perfect Grant, it may be any portion that stands alone and conveys the work’s best qualities.

3. Copies of (1) the material in the source text that has been translated for the sample; (2) the source text’s copyright page; and, (3) if the source text is not in the public domain, a letter (or email) from the copyright holder stating that English-language translation rights are available.

Items #1 and 2 should be combined into a single PDF document, formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced, on US Letter-sized paper with 1-inch margins and page numbers in the bottom right corner. Label this PDF in the following style: Translator’s First Name_Translator’s Last Name_Book’s Title in English_Pitch and Short Sample

Items for #3 should be combined into a second PDF document, labeled in the following style: Translator’s First Name_Translator’s Last Name_Book’s Title in English_Source Text

The announcement of Pitch-Perfect Grant winners in SCBWI’s e-publications serves as the notification to all other entrants that they did not win this year. Please note that SCBWI reserves the right not to confer this grant in a given year, a situation that would be announced instead of announcing the winners. In either case, please try again next year!