ÇANKAYA UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND LETTERS
VII. CREATIVE WRITING AND TRANSLATION COMPETITION GUIDELINES
Within the Faculty of Science and Letters at Çankaya University, a Creative Writing and Translation Competition will be organized under the leadership of the Departments of English Language and Literature and Translation and Interpreting Studies, in collaboration with the Faculty of Science and Letters and the English Language Coordination Office. The competition aims to foster a love of creative writing and literary translation among young generations, encourage students to learn foreign languages, guide them to explore creative expression in the foreign language they have learned, and raise language awareness and sensitivity through literary works.
The seventh edition of the competition, held in 2016, will have the theme: “Being Young in the 21st Century.”
Important Dates:
Deadline for Submission: 18 March 2016
Announcement of the Top Fifteen in Two Categories: 18 April 2016
Live Performance and Final: 9 May 2016
PARTICIPATION RULES AND JURY MEMBERS
Participants may enter the competition in only one category with a single work.
The competition will be held in two categories—literary essay and literary translation—and is open to student writers and translators from all high schools in Turkey. Candidates participating in the translation category can obtain the text to be translated from https://mtb.cankaya.edu.tr
Jury Members
Translation Category
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul KOÇ (Head of the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Mustafa KIRCA (Faculty Member, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Nuray LÜK GROVE (Faculty Member, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Asst. Prof. Dr. A. Alev YEMENİCİ (Faculty Member, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Dr. Bülent AKAT (Instructor, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Dr. Barış Emre ALKIM (Instructor, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Dr. Bülent İNAL (Director, English Preparatory Class)
Sibel ERSAN (Lecturer, English Preparatory Class)
Mine Nimet BASKAN (Lecturer, Academic English Unit)
Enes ALTUNTAŞ (Lecturer, English Preparatory Class)
Lütfi Umut ÇUHADAR (Lecturer, English Preparatory Class)
Essay Category
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem UZUNDEMİR (Head of the Department of English Language and Literature)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Johann PILLAI (Faculty Member, Department of English Language and Literature)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Neslihan EKMEKÇİOĞLU (Faculty Member, Department of English Language and Literature)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Berkem SAĞLAM (Faculty Member, Department of English Language and Literature)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Susanne KLINGER (Faculty Member, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
Lecturer Halide ARAL (Department of English Language and Literature)
Lecturer Yağmur DEMİR (Department of English Language and Literature)
Ayşe GÜNEŞ (Lecturer, Academic English Unit)
Mustafa GÜNEŞ (Lecturer, Academic English Unit)
Özge GÜVENÇ (Lecturer, Academic English Unit)
Rudolf Peter JELEN (Lecturer, English Preparatory Class)
Participation Conditions and Additional Information
The goals of this award-winning competition are as follows:
To help young people better express their thoughts and feelings in a foreign language (English) they are learning;
To encourage young people to create, write, and enjoy reading creative texts in the foreign language they are learning;
To guide them to read literary texts and engage in translation in both their mother tongue and the foreign language;
To reward students who demonstrate the ability to use the foreign language they are learning creatively;
To emphasize the meaning of the concepts of essay and literary translation;
To highlight the importance of creativity in literary translation;
To underline the significance of creating bridges between literatures and cultures through literary translation and bringing literary works to target readers, as well as to introduce the profession of translation;
To convey the importance of literature and literary translation to young people and to instill a lasting love for literature and translation in talented students beyond the competition.
Conditions for Participating in the English Essay Category:
Participants must be high school students.
The English essay or literary translation must be entirely the participant’s own work.
All essays and translations written in English must be read and approved by the English teachers at the participant’s school.
Each English essay must not exceed 350 words, must be typed on a computer, and the total word count must be indicated at the end of the essay.
Essays must have an appropriate title, be written in 12-point Times New Roman, and use double spacing.
Essays will be evaluated based on the following criteria: creative thinking and supporting arguments, organization, variety in word and sentence structures, having a title appropriate to the text, correct use of English grammar, adherence to punctuation and spelling rules, and compliance with the specified format.
Essays submitted must not have been previously entered into another competition or published. If a prior publication is discovered, any award received will be revoked.
Participants must send one copy of their essay in a sealed envelope by post or courier to the contact address below, including the following documents:
a) Contact details of the participant’s school (telephone, fax, address)
b) Signed parental consent form confirming the student may participate
c) CD containing the English essay or literary translation
Envelopes must reach Çankaya University no later than 18 March 2016.
Conditions for Participating in the Literary Translation Category:
Participants must be students.
Participants must translate the text provided on the Çankaya University Translation and Interpreting Studies Department website from English into Turkish.
The translation must be entirely the participant’s own work.
All translations must be read and approved by the English teachers at the participant’s school.
Translations must have an appropriate title, be written in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, typed on a computer, and saved on a CD.
Translations will be evaluated based on: accuracy of cultural references in the target language, careful word choice, correct use of grammar, conveying the main idea of the source text in the translation, coherence and unity, completeness of the translation, adherence to punctuation and spelling rules, and compliance with the specified format.
Participants must send one copy of their translation in a sealed envelope by post or courier to the contact address below, including the following documents:
a) Contact details of the participant’s school (telephone, fax, address)
b) Signed parental consent form confirming the student may participate
c) CD containing the English essay or literary translation
Envelopes must reach Çankaya University no later than 18 March 2016.
Competition Contact Address:
Çankaya University
Faculty of Science and Letters
Departments of English Language and Literature & Translation and Interpreting Studies
Yukarıyurtçu Mah. Mimar Sinan Cad. No:4
Etimesgut – ANKARA, TURKEY
Tel: +90 312 233 14 40 (Translation and Interpreting Studies Department Secretary)
+90 312 233 14 13 (English Language and Literature Department Secretary)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Applications with incomplete information or documents, or those received after the deadline of 18 March 2016, will not be considered.
Participants may only enter in one category.
Participants’ travel and accommodation expenses are not covered.
AWARDS:
Students placing in the top five in both the English Essay and Translation categories will receive the following prizes:
First place: Apple iPad Air 2 64 GB (WiFi + 3G)
Second place: Apple iPad Mini 4 16 GB (WiFi + 3G)
Third place: HP Stream PC11-P010NT x360 Convertible Laptop
Fourth place: Samsung Galaxy J7 Smartphone
Fifth place: Amazon New Kindle Paperwhite 2015 (4 GB) e-reader
SUBMITTED WORKS FOR THE COMPETITION
ESSAY TOPIC (DENEME KONUSU)
Being young in the 21st century
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
TEXT TO BE TRANSLATED (ÇEVRİLECEK METİN)
Young Adult Science Fiction in the Post-Human Age
In “’Is He Still Human? Are You?’: Young Adult Science Fiction in the Posthuman Age,” researcher Elaine Ostry analyzes science fiction texts, written for young adults, which deal with the tenets of our new biotechnology age: cloning, genetic engineering, prolongation of life. Specifically, these new engaging reads for young adults discuss the ethics implied in the study and practice of biotechnology—such as the creation of a super class of human beings and the delicate crossing of the boundaries between human and animal, and that age-old fascination, human and machine. Ostry concludes that most of these contemporary adolescent fictional texts place “nurture above nature” and promote a safe and traditional vision of humanity.
Still, danger lurks. As Ostry writes, the potential of biotechnology to change human form is ever present in young adult literature that recently has seen science fiction come to life. What their parents and grandparents had always thought of as science fiction, says Ostry, are now realities or possible realities. Everything from artificially created limbs to designer babies is very real for today’s adolescents, bringing into question the eternal question, “what does it mean to be human?” After all, if biotechnology can change the human form and mind, and machines can become a reasonable part of the human body, then the term post-human body or “techno-body” is a distinct entity.
Clearly, scientific advances have changed the map of young adult literature. After all, if we as a society are altering our definition of what it means to be human, we can only begin to understand the relevance of our desire to truly understand ourselves in light of our newfound technology. Today, thanks to advances in DNA labeling, we can determine much of a person before he or she is even born, or created by other means. And most science fiction for young adults attempts to mediate the post-human age to young audiences. What are the pros and cons of cloning? Of what value is the human versus the new, “improved” human? And how can young people really know what it means to be fully alive if all they know are people who have been genetically engineered?
Jeffrey S. Kaplan