V.1 Introduction
The purpose of this strand is to stimulate the widest circulation of European literature among European citizens by supporting the translation of high-quality European literature into the different languages of the countries participating in the Programme. Applications made by publishers or publishing houses wishing to translate the works of authors who have won the European Union Prize for Literature are encouraged.
Furthermore, in order to foster European integration, special attention will be given to the circulation of literary works written in languages of countries that have joined the European Union since 2004.
V.2 Submission of applications
When to apply
The application must be sent at the latest by Midday, 12:00 Brussels time on 03/02/2012.
For more information about the agenda of the procedure, please consult the Calendar 2008-2013.
How to apply
The Executive Agency has developed an on-line submission tool.
All applications must be made via the submission of an electronic form and the submission of a paper application package. Paper-only or e-form only applications will be dismissed as ineligible.
Please read the instructions on how to apply with the electronic form (referred to as the "eForm" below).
You will find hereunder all relevant documents for Strand 1.2.2
Step 1 - Download the electronic form ("eForm")
Download the eForm: Please download the relevant e-Form for Strand 1.2.2 (Literary Translations) of the Culture Programme.
You need to have the Adobe Reader version 8.1.5 or higher installed on your computer in order to able to download and complete the eForm. If you don't have it on your computer, please click here to download the latest version of Adobe Reader.
You will also find on this page all technical issues related to the eForm:
Test eForm
Known Issues
Minimum Requirements
Further technical assistance
Step 2 - Fill in and submit the eForm
In order to fill in your application eForm properly:
- please carefully read the Instructions for applicants. The document contains useful information on how to fill in the application form and the budget form.
- please carefully read the Culture eForm User Guide. It contains useful technical information.
The following annexes will have to be attached to the eForm and submitted on-line at the same time:
- The signed Declaration on honour (please sign, scan and attach the document to the eForm)
- Signed declaration concerning the works to be translated (please sign, scan and attach the document to the eForm):
- The estimated budget form 1.2.2:
You can then submit your e-Form application on-line before 03/02/2012 midday, 12:00 Brussels time.
Step 3 – Prepare and send the paper application package to the Executive Agency
After submitting your e-form, please send your application package to the Executive Agency (deadline: 03/02/2012, the postmark serves as proof).
As from this year, the application package to be sent to the Executive Agency must include both paper copies of documents (with original signatures) as well as a CD-Rom.
V.3 Specific eligibility criteria
To be eligible, projects must fulfil the criteria listed below in addition to. the eligibility criteria that are common to all strands of the Programme (please refer to Chapter II.2.1).
V.3.1 Who is eligible to apply?
Eligible applicants must:
- be public or private publishing houses or publishing groups (they cannot be natural persons);
- have their registered legal seat in one of the countries taking part in the Programme.
V.3.2 What projects are eligible?
- An eligible project consists in the proposal of one or up to a maximum of ten works of fiction to be translated from one European language (the source language) into another European language (the target language).
- Only translation expenses are eligible. May 2010
- Only works of fiction are eligible, irrespective of their literary genre, such as novels, tales, short stories, plays, poetry or comic strips. Non-fiction works are not eligible, e.g. tourist guides, autobiographies, biographies, essays or works related to human sciences (such as History, Philosophy, Economy etc.) and more generally works related to other sciences (such as Physics, Mathematics etc.).
- The original works must be written by authors who are nationals of or residents in a country taking part in the Programme with the exception of works written in Latin and ancient Greek.
- Works must have been previously published.
- Works must not have been previously translated into the target language.
- Selected applicants will have to demonstrate that they own the rights to the literary work(s) proposed for translation. This means that the applicant will have to provide the transfer of rights contract duly dated and signed before the signature of the legal commitment by the Executive Agency.
- The translation activities must start within the period indicated in the calendar set out in Chapter I.7.
- The duration of the project shall not exceed 24 months. Duration must be understood from the start date of the translation of the 1st work until the publication date of the last translated work.
- The grant amount requested for a project must be between EUR 2 000 and EUR 60 000.
V.3.3 Eligible languages
The list of languages and flat-rate codes has been established on the basis of the following definition:
"Eligible languages are the official languages of the countries taking part in the Programme plus Latin and ancient Greek. The official languages referred to in this case are the official languages as defined by the Constitution or by the basic law of the respective country." (Programme Guide, Section V.3.3)
List of eligible languages
- Albanian SQ
- Bosnian BS
- Bulgarian BG
- Czech CS
- Danish DA
- German DE
- Greek GR
- English EN
- Spanish ES
- Estonian ET
- Finnish FI
- French FR
- Irish GA
- Hungarian HU
- Icelandic IS
- Italian IT
- Lithuanian LT
- Latvian LV
- Maltese MT
- Dutch NL
- Norwegian NO
- Polish PL
- Portuguese PT
- Romanian RO
- Slovakian SK
- Slovenian SL
- Swedish SV
- Turkish TR
- Croatian HR
- Montenegrin ME
- Macedonian MK*
- Serbian SR
- Latin LA
- Ancient Greek EL
* Provisional code which does not prejudge in any way the definitive nomenclature for this country, which will be agreed following the conclusion of negotiations currently taking place under the auspices of United Nations
Should you not find, in the drop-down menu, the official original or target language you are applying for, please apply the following procedure:
- Make sure that this language is official as defined by the Constitution or by the basic law of the respective country;
- Choose in the drop-down menu a language pertaining to the same Country, for which a flat-rate will be automatically chosen;
- Explain this language choice in your cover letter.
The Agency will process your application accordingly.
Please note that other languages than those mentioned above will be eligible if they comply with the above-mentioned definition. This will be assessed on a case-by-case basis during the eligibility check carried out for all applications.
V.3.4 Documents to be submitted to comply with the eligibility criteria
Documents to be provided on paper
- An official cover letter signed by the legal representative of the applying organisation
- One printed copy of the submitted e-Form (the submission number should appear at the bottom of each page of the e-form)
- The signed estimated budget form (copy of the e-form's attachment). Please read carefully the Instructions for Applicants as it explains the way the grant will be calculated in the funding contract and at the end of the project.
- The Legal Entity Form
- The Financial Identification Form
- The signed Declaration of Honour (copy of the e-form's attachment)
- The signed Declaration concerning the works to be translated (copy of the e-form's attachment)
- The Financial Capacity Form (if the requested grant exceeds 25.000 EUR)
- Copy of the official accounts for the last financial year for which the accounts have been closed (Balance sheets and Profit/Loss accounts)
- Curriculum Vitae of the persons responsible for the implementation of the action and of the translators
- Commercially available hardcopies of the books proposed for translation
- An activity report covering the past two years for the coordinator and the coorganisers (there is no template for this document)
- Any additional material supporting the application
- Checklist 1.2.2. This checklist will help you ensure that your paper application package is complete.
Documents to be provided also on CD-Rom
- All CVs (translators + persons responsible for the project implementation)
- Activity Report
- Signed cover letter
- Any additional document justifying the choice of translators or the sending of book photocopies instead of commercially available hardcopies.
Please send all documents by post at the latest on 03/02/2012 (the postmark serves as proof) to the Executive Agency, to the following address:
Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency
Culture Programme (2007–2013)
Programme Strand 1.2.2.Literary translation projects
Avenue du Bourget 1
(BOUR 04/64)
B – 1140 Brussels Belgium
Documents can be sent:
- by post
- by express courier service
- delivered in person by applicants themselves, not later than 16:00 on 03/02/2012.
V.4 What are the award criteria?
After the assessment of the operational and financial capacity of the organisation, the proposal will be evaluated on the basis of the following award criteria comprising qualitative and quantitative indicators:
The award criteria comprise qualitative and quantitative indicators and are as follows:
(1) the extent to which the project can generate real European added value and the relevance of the activities to the objectives of the Programme
(2) the extent to which the proposed activities are designed and can be carried out with a high level of excellence
(3) the extent to which the results of the proposed activities will be appropriately communicated and promoted Projects will be assessed on a scale from 0 to 100 points and will be ranked according to their merit.
(1) The extent to which the project can generate real European added value and the relevance of the activities to the objectives of the Porgramme (0-40 points)
According to the objectives of the Programme, the proposed activities are supposed to enhance the cultural area shared by Europeans in the countries taking part in the
Programme. In this respect, the following factors will be assessed:
- the extent to which the choice of works to be translated demonstrates an outlook that goes beyond local, regional or national interests;
- the extent to which the project aims at enhancing the knowledge of European literature by Europeans;
- the extent to which the project aims at encouraging the international circulation of literary works; In other words, the extent to which the project contributes to the mobility of European Literary works;
- the extent to which the project aims at encouraging inter-cultural dialogue.
- in order to foster European integration, special attention will be given to the translation of works written in languages of countries that have joined the European Union since 2004, by authors who are nationals of or residents of these countries;
- special attention will be given to the works of authors who have won the European Union Prize for Literature.
(2) The extent to which the proposed activities are designed and can be carried out successfully with a high level of excellence (0-40 points)
In order to meet the objectives of the Programme, translations also have to be carried out successfully with high quality standards. In this respect, the following questions will be assessed:
- the literary quality of the work to be translated;
- the quality of the publishing house as regards its general publishing policy and its translation policy;
- the skills and experience of the professional translators;
- the quality of the application: seriousness and completeness of the application, clarity and relevance of the proposed methodology, clarity and feasibility of the proposed timetable for implementation and cost-effectiveness of each work proposed for translation.
(3) The extent to which the results of the proposed activities will be appropriately communicated and promoted (0-20 points) In this respect, the following factors will be assessed:
- the relevance of the communication plan with regard to the type of project, the target audience and the objectives of the Programme;
- the number of translated copies which will be published, taking into account the size of the country or countries where the translated work is to be published and the average readership level for the genre concerned.
- the methodology used to ensure the visibility of the proposed activities, the detailed communication/dissemination/promotion plan and the various promotional tools (such as website, press and brochures).
V.5 Financial conditions
Calculation of the grant:
- the grant is calculated on the basis of a predetermined flat rate that applies to the following genres of fictional literature: novels, tales, short stories, plays, comic strips, etc.;
- in the case of works of poetry only, the grant is calculated on the basis of a detailed budget; in this case, the grant may cover the cost of translation, provided that the said cost does not exceed 50% of the total cost of translating and publishing the book or books in question.
V.5.1 Flat-rate financing ( Commission Decision C(2008) 278)
The grant shall correspond to the amount resulting from multiplication of the number of pages in the original work by the rate for each target language.
The rates have been fixed at a level that does not incur the risk of generating profit or exceeding the general ceiling fixed in the Culture Programme 2007-2013 (i.e. 50% of the translation and publication costs of a literary work). Flat-rates per target language have been calculated on the basis of actual costs of translation per page of 1500 characters without space. The rates differ per target language. The rates are regularly updated.
A grant calculator in the application form calculates the maximum grant automatically. A simplified budget forecast has to be submitted. No detailed financial statement of costs is required with the final report.
Example:
Calculation of the total grant:
- one book in Romanian with 350 pages to be translated into Dutch (NL): 350 x 24,12 (flat rate for NL): the total calculated grant is EUR 8 442.
V.5.2 Budget-based financing for poetry only
The grant amount is calculated on the basis of a balanced, detailed budget estimate, expressed in EUR, clearly showing the translation costs for each book.
It covers translation costs, provided these costs do not represent more than 50% of the total translation and publishing costs.
Eligible direct costs
The only eligible costs are those relating to the actual payment to the translators, fees or actual salaries plus social-security charges and other statutory costs included in their remuneration, provided that these costs do not exceed the average rates
corresponding to the usual remuneration policy of the beneficiary.
V.6 Grant Agreement / Grant Decision
For this strand, Grant Decisions are used (see Chapter III.4)
V.7 Payment arrangements
V.7.1 Pre-financing
N.B. If a bank guarantee is required, the conditions governing the payment procedures below will differ. See Chapter III.1.6 for more details.
For a grant equal to or exceeding EUR 20 000, a pre-financing payment representing 70% of the awarded grant is made in accordance with the procedure described in Chapter III.8.
V.7.2 Final payment
The Executive Agency establishes the amount of the final payment on the basis of the final report. The documents required for final payment are as follows:
(a) Flat-rate financing:
- the final report to be completed for each translation, which must indicate the name of the translator;
- one copy of each translated and published work.
(b) Budget-based financing – poetry only:
- the final report to be completed for each translation, which must indicate the name of the translator;
- the final financial statement, including supporting documents which clearly indicate amounts with and without VAT;
- one copy of each translated and published work.
For poetry only:
If the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary during the action are lower than anticipated, the Executive Agency shall apply the rate of co-financing quoted in the Grant Decision to the actual eligible costs incurred.
