The greater the poetic quality, the less yielding are the poems to translation, regardless of whether they seem "simple" or "complex." In twentieth-century Russian poetry, one finds few poems, both long and short, that are as difficult to translate as those of Marina Tsvetaeva. Their poetic tension is just too high, and their force fields are overwhelmingly complex. And, yet... In 2012, Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva would have turned 120, and we dedicate our annual contest to her. The panel of judges will consist of 16 remarkable poets, translators, and Slavic scholars, some of whom have spent years translating and analyzing Tsvetaeva's works.

The First Prize is a compass and $300 (US). The shortlisted translations will be published in both Cardinal Points and Стороны Света journals, as well as in Russiapedia – a special online encyclopedic project by RT.

The submission guidelines are as follows:
1. One translated poem per entry (participant's choice). Team entries are allowed.
2. The translation, along with the Russian original, should be sent via email both in the body of the message and as an attached Word file at the Compass Contest email address (compass@stosvet.net) with the words "Tsvetaeva Contest" in the subject line.
3. Participant’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address should appear only on the cover page of the Word file.
4. The contest entry fee is $15 per entry paid online through the Cardinal Points donation page. If for any reason – political, geographical, or technical – you are unable to submit your entry fee, please send a request for a fee waiver to the same address. The organizers consider such waivers as exceptions.
5. The number of entries is not limited, but each entry is considered separately.

The submission period starts on January 26th, 2012 and ends at 11.59PM (EST)on June 25th. The names of the winners will be announced at the end of August.

We wish you good luck in what we are sure is going to be a meaningful and productive competition, and look forward to reading your work.