Susanna Roth Prize 2026: Everything will be great

Susanna Roth Prize 2026: Everything will be great

Call for participation in the 12th edition of the competition

Czech Centres (hereinafter referred to as "CC") and the Czech Literary Centre, section of the Moravian Library (hereinafter referred to as "CLC"), announce the 12th edition of the international translation competition Susanna Roth Prize (hereinafter referred to as "the competition") for emerging foreign translators from Czech into other languages aged up to 40 years (born in 1986 or later).

The competition takes place outside the territory of the Czech Republic and is organized through the foreign network of Czech Centres (hereinafter referred to as "CCZ") and the diplomatic missions of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as "DM").

The competition is intended for foreign translators, Czech studies scholars, or anyone with an affinity for the Czech language and translation who has not published a book translation (in the field of fiction). Participants in the competition translate a complete text by a contemporary Czech author of up to 12 standard pages from a book published in 2025 in the Czech Republic, selected by a professional jury in the Czech Republic nominated by CLC and CC. Translations of texts that have already been publicly published cannot be accepted for the competition.

Only one participant is awarded for each participating country or announced language area (within the competence of CCZ or DM). The evaluation of the competition in individual countries or announced language areas is the responsibility of local CCZ and DM through professional juries.

The competition is governed by pre-established rules, which are available to each participating CCZ or DM. The rules of the competition are governed by Czech law. CC, CLC, and the relevant CCZ or DM reserve the right to cancel the competition at any time without stating a reason or to change the conditions of the competition, or to not announce the competition for their area of operation or to reject all competition submissions.

Participating countries and language areas

The current edition of the competition will be announced in 2026 through local CCZ and DM:

  • in countries: Bulgaria, Egypt, Croatia (DM), Italy, Japan, Hungary, Poland, Romania, North Macedonia (DM), Slovakia, Slovenia (DM), Serbia, Sweden, Taiwan, and Ukraine

  • for language areas: Anglophone (USA and Great Britain), Francophone (Belgium and France), and Germanophone (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland)

Possibly in other countries that apply for the call during January 2026.

About the author

Eli Beneš (1976, Prague)

He studied English and American studies and Czech language and literature at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Later, he attended the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, where he studied journalism and media studies with a specialization in television and radio production. He completed the Paidea Project-Incubator program at the European Institute for Jewish Studies in Stockholm and the Ami-Ad program in Tel Aviv.

For fourteen years, he worked as a presenter at Prague's Radio 1, focusing mainly on Czech electronic projects and bands; he was also the owner of a music publishing house and composed music for Czech Television and other media for a long time. He occasionally teaches electronic music at the Electronic Music Academy Prague. In the media, he initially worked as the editor-in-chief of several magazines, later as a publisher. He currently works for the Czech media house Seznam.cz.

His debut novel A Slight Loss of Loneliness (2023) won the prestigious Magnesia Litera Award for Debut of the Year in 2024.

Text for translation

The professional jury selected the book by Eli Beneš: Everything Will Be Great (published by Argo, 2025).

The competition text is an excerpt on pages 16–24 (page 16 TWO; page 24 up to the sentence “ We were there until it got dark, and then we returned through dark and completely empty streets and an empty park and empty sidewalks and got home, the lights were out and the woman was sleeping again. ” including).

Competition text for translation .pdf

Awards

Participation in the program of professional seminars and networking meetings and the Bohemistics seminar in the Czech Republic. The program will be conducted in Czech.

Assignment and conditions of participation

The competition translation is submitted electronically (PDF format) to the email of the relevant CCZ or DM, which is listed in the competition call for the respective country or language area.

The participant will also provide in electronic form:

  • a bio profile (Czech, ER form, max length 1000 characters including spaces)

  • a current photograph (print quality, credit - name of the photographer)

  • a declaration of authorship of the submitted competition translation

The mentioned materials must be submitted by 31 March 2026 to the email address of the relevant CC or DM.

By submitting the above documents, data, and photograph, the participant agrees to their processing for the needs of the competition and their use for purposes related to the media coverage of the competition, i.e., their publication (on the websites or social platforms of CC, CLC, or DM or through relevant print media) in case of winning within the respective country or language area.

Timeline

  • Deadline for submission of translations: 31 March 2026

  • Publication of results: 15 May 2026

  • Stay of laureates in the Czech Republic: July 2026

Contact persons (Czech Republic)

the foreign network of Czech Centres and the diplomatic missions of the Czech Republic abroad zastupitelské úřady ČR v zahraničí