Director of the National Centre for Translation Karma Samy and Mexican Ambassador to Egypt Leonora Rueda. AFP
The competition, which targets Spanish language learners and Egyptian translators, offers a grand prize of $1,000 for the first-place winner.
The winning translation will be published and presented at the 2026 Cairo International Book Fair. In addition, the top three other translations will receive special recognition.
During a recent event held at the embassy, Mexican Ambassador to Egypt Leonora Rueda Gutiérrez and the National Centre for Translation Director Karma Samy presented the book Kanek by Mexican author Ermilo Abreu Gómez.
The book, published under Mexico's Economic Culture Fund, is available for translation as part of this year’s competition.
Ambassador Gutiérrez emphasized that the competition, which began in 2021, has now been institutionalized and has become an important platform for honouring the work of Spanish language learners and Egyptian translators.
Kanek is a significant historical novel in Mexican literature. It revolves around Jacinto Canek, a hero from the indigenous Mayan population, who led a rebellion in the 18th century against Spanish landowners. The story unfolds in the Yucatán Peninsula, home to the Mayans and their descendants.
The collaboration between the Mexican embassy and the National Centre for Translation has created an opportunity to enhance the translation of Mexican heritage into Arabic, fostering greater cultural exchange and strengthening ties between both nations and their cultures.
Registration for the competition is from 1 to 15 March 2025 via the National Centre for Translation’s website — https://forms.gle/183TrWeENRqaocJ28 — and the submission deadline is 29 May 2025.
The competition announcement and its terms are now available on the Mexican embassy's website at https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/egipto/index.php/es/.
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