Translation Bake-Off: Call for Submissions - 2013 Edition
 

Dear Eratosphereans,

Here comes The Translation Bake-Off!

I'm excited to let you know that I'm bringing you an exciting Host & Distinguished Guest (DG) for this year's event! But, more on that later.

*** TO ENTER :

1. Send email one translation only to http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/images/send2bakeoffs.gif . (Note: this is not a link, it's an email address--so, don't click on it. Type the email address as indicated into the To/Recipient field of your favorite email-client program.)
2. Include the original and a prose crib.
3. If the original text is in an unfamiliar script, it would be very helpful to include a transliteration into Roman characters as well.
4. *NOTES *: a) If your submission is in a file attachment, make sure that your name is not present anywhere in the submission file (for blind judging!). b) Also, if you know how, please remove your name from the author field of the document properties; if don't know how, then never mind, and I'll have to do it for you.

Be sure to send in your submission by midnight (U.S. Eastern time) on Sunday, September 22, 2013. The Host & DG will narrow them down to about a dozen finalists, more or less.

Formal and non-formal poems, published and unpublished - are all welcome.

The Host & DG will begin posting the finalists, with the DG's comments, two per day, starting on Friday, October 4, 2013. At that point everyone is welcome to join in with comments of their own.

When all of the translated poems have been posted, the Host & DG will start a thread in which people can vote for the top three, and thereafter, will tabulate the results and announce a popular winner, and will also announce the DG's own top three. Only then will the names of the authors be announced ... and, a twist, the Host & DG revealed--more below!

*** THE USUALS & THE TWISTS :

For this bakeoff, the Host & DG will be judging the submissions blind--do I hear a yeah from the participants from the last bakeoff!? I'll be removing all the identifying information from submissions before forwarding to the received material to the Host & DG.

And for all who are fond of anonymous, blind judging, how about I give you a double dose of it for this bake-off? Yes, you'll be having not only blind judging, but blind judge--meaning we'll have a secret Host & DG! Thus, bakeoff participants for this event will not know who the DG is until after the votes when the results are revealed, and one of the revelations then will be the the identity of our Secret Distinguished Guest! So, for this bake-off, you can have some fun guessing not only the identity of the translator for the posted poem, but also guessing who the so double-oh-sevenish Secret Distinguished Guest is!

And it's a go ... so, go ahead -- submit now! Submit one, submit all!

Cheers,
...Alex

I'm confident everyone is working on a secret translation that no one will recognize. :(

Can one submit more than one translation?

No, John. Only one translation per person. So, send your best!

Just did, Alex.

Got it ... thanks, Tim! - Alex

And Sphereans, keep 'em translations coming -- in just one day after the reminders, I've received half as many submissions as in the week before ... But we need more more!

Cheers,
...Alex

I thought we had another month...

Wrong, Ann -- you have another month minus a couple of days:) ... but it never hurts to keep reminding everyone to submit (especially since things seem to pick up after the reminders!).

Cheers,
...Alex

Right. Gotcher. But...

When I click on the address link nothing happens. When I try to copy it so as to paste it into the address field, a left-to-right attempt just conjures up a crossed-out circle that hovers accusingly, while a right-to-left attempt proves, when pasted, to have copied only the full stop (period) from the line below.

So what am I doing wrong?