Created in 2012 to honor the volunteers, donors, and non-profit partners of Translators without Borders, the awards are given within six categories. In addition to six winners, a number of honorable mentions were also chosen.

Excellence Award

Awarded to Edith Boehler

A former board member and treasurer, Edith provided outstanding support during an internal transitional phase at Translators without Borders in 2016 and, on a voluntary basis, helped considerably with the financial reporting.

Honorable mention: Asian Absolute

The global translation company, Asian Absolute, donates the expertise of its technical support team on a daily basis to help manage the content of the Translators without Borders website. Their technical and administrative staff provide consistent quality and a service that can be relied upon.

Right to Knowledge Award

Awarded to Narges Rasouli

Narges has donated over 100 hours of translation time through the Farsi Rapid Response Team. She has been awarded the Right to Knowledge because of her ongoing commitment and the quality and impact of her translations.

Honorable mentions: Gema Ramírez-Sánchez, CEO of Prompsit, and the Kurdish Machine Translation project team

Over a matter of weeks, Gema and the team of volunteers created an offline machine translation system to facilitate conversations between aid workers and Kurdish-speaking refugees. The app is available for free on Google Play and can be integrated into other systems.

Empowerment Award

Awarded to the Guinea Mentors Team: Sylviane Couturier, Maryvonne Dulac, Jacek Sierakowski and Corina Roe

The mentors have been an invaluable resource in empowering new translators in Guinea, West Africa, and preparing them for their future careers. As part of the Health Education & Training (HEAT) project, the new translators are improving access to health information for the local communities.

Honorable mention: Farideh Colthart

A regular visitor to the refugee camps in and around Athens, Farideh is a strong supporter of Translators without Borders. She volunteers her time as a translator on the Farsi Rapid Response Team and has been involved with training interpreters in Greece and speaking publicly to recruit more volunteers.

Humanitarian Communicator Award

Awarded to Internews

Internews has been a non-profit partner of Translators without Borders since the start of the response to the European refugee crisis. They understand the importance of communicating with communities in the right language and have established an essential and accurate resource for refugees in deciphering the facts from rumors. See more: newsthatmoves.org

Honorable mention: Save the Children

The international children’s charity, based in the UK, has been a continuing partner and donor on the European refugee response, particularly looking at how language barriers are impacting children in refugee camps.

Donor Award

Awarded to Sandberg Translation Partners (STP)

The Nordic translation company has been a long-term supporter and sponsor of Translators without Borders. In 2016 they donated a significant amount of in-house translation and project management time to a joint project with UNCHR, the UN Refugee Agency, and involved 35 of their freelancers in the work.

Honorable mention:

KantanMT

A leading provider of custom machine translation systems, KantanMT is a sponsor of Translators without Borders. In 2016 they held a very successful Hike Challenge fundraiser in Dublin, raising over $6,500 and are also active in promoting TWB’s work through social media.

Communicator of the Year

Awarded to the Translators without Borders Cookbook team: Sophie Llewellyn Smith, Chris Thompson, and Pavel Gudoshnikov

The volunteer technical and design team launched the Translators without Borders Cookbook to celebrate cultural diversity by sharing locally loved recipes. The result has been a valuable fundraising tool for the organization and an excellent example of creative collaboration. See the Cookbook at cook.translatorswithoutborders.org

Honorable mentions: Jessica Lightfoot and Sheena Makhecha

Jessica played a crucial and central role within the team establishing connections with new NGO partners. She has been consistent and reliable in collecting, screening and cataloging important documents. Sheena managed the project to subtitle and dub the renowned sexual abuse and rape awareness video, Tea Consent, into 11 languages. Partnering with Voicebox and DotSub on the technical elements, she was the driving force behind this highly impactful project.

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