Statute of the Traducta programme

1. General Provisions

1.1. Scope of application

Traducta is a support programme for translating Estonian literature. The programme was initiated by the Supervisory Board of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia in the year 2000 and was called the Traducta scholarship programme until 2015.

This Statute sets out the terms and conditions for applications and allocation of funds under the Traducta programme of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (below jointly referred to as “allocations”) on the basis of subsection 2 (4) of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia Act. This Statute is Annex I to the Statute of the Supervisory Board of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (point 2.2.2.). The general terms and conditions for applications, allocation of funds, concluding agreements, submitting reports, and recovery of the allocations are set out in the general procedure for processing the applications and recovery of the allocations of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and this Statute is a part of the general procedure.

{1.2. Purpose of the programme}

The purpose of the Traducta programme is to support the translation of works by Estonian authors into foreign languages and their publication outside of Estonia.

{1.3. Types of allocations}

According to the decisions of the Traducta committee, the Cultural Endowment Council will allocate within the framework of the Traducta program:
a) publication grant to pay a fee to the translator and/or to cover the publication costs of the work;
b) translator’s salary to translators translating an excerpt.

{1.4. Applicants}

Only private persons (translators) are eligible for the translator's salary. Only publishers are eligible for the publication grants.

{1.5. Form and method of applying}

A standard-format application shall be submitted in the e-kulka online application environment of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia or by email to traducta@kulka.ee. 

{1.6. Deadlines for submitting applications}

Applications shall be submitted by 20 February, 20 May, 20 August, or 20 November. If the date falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline shall be on the very next working day.

2. Submitting the application for a publication grant

{2.1. To apply for a publication grant}

a standard-format application shall be submitted, adding the following:

• a copy of the contract between the foreign publisher and the holder of copyright in the original work to be translated
• a copy of the contract between the foreign publisher and the translator for the publication of the translation
• an excerpt from the translation (up to 20 pages)
• the translator's resume and list of published translations
• the volume of the work to be translated (character count for prose and dramatic prose; line count for poetry and dramatic verse)
• an exact calculation of the publication costs of the work
• book marketing plan
• the latest catalogue of the publisher

2.1.1. Publication grants shall not be used to cover buying copyrights, remuneration for image editing and graphic design, taxes, or shipping costs.

• the full text of the original work
• an excerpt from the translation (up to 20 pages)
• the translator's resume and list of published translations
• foreign performing arts institution’s letter of interest regarding the public performance of the work
• the volume of the work to be translated (character count for dramatic prose; line count for dramatic verse)

3.1. Only private persons (translators) are eligible for the translator's salary.

{3.2. To apply for translator’s salary} a standard-format application shall be submitted, adding the following:

• an informal statement of purpose to support the application
• the translated excerpt (up to 15 pages, 1,800 characters per page)
• a copy of the original
• the translator's resume and list of published translations

3.3. Translation of a maximum of 30 pages is supported.

{4. Allocation of funds}

4.1. The allocations shall be decided by an expert committee (the Traducta committee) appointed by the supervisory board of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
4.2. The decisions of the committee shall be approved by the supervisory board.
4.3. The Traducta programme is funded from the interdisciplinary projects of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
4.4. Translator's salary and publication grant shall not be allocated if the translation or work was published before the application deadline.
4.5. As a rule, the applicant is informed of the decision two months after the application deadline.

{5. Concluding the agreement}

5.1. The Cultural Endowment of Estonia shall sign an agreement with the foreign publisher, foreign performing arts institution, or the translator.
5.2. The terms and conditions of the agreement (except for translator's salary for translating an excerpt) shall include the following obligations:

• to ensure that the support from the Traducta programme is mentioned in the publication in the target language of the translation in the following wording: "This book has been supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Traducta programme.", to which the logo must be added;

• to submit five copies of the publication to the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

5.3. Four of the copies submitted to the Cultural Endowment of Estonia will be handed over to specialist organisations as follows:

• One copy to the National Library of Estonia for long-term preservation.

• One copy to the Estonian Literary Museum for long-term preservation.

• Two copies to the Estonian Literature Centre (except for children's literature) for preservation and to introduce the programme.

• Two copies of publications of children's literature to the Estonian Children's Literature Centre for preservation and to introduce the programme.

{6. Payment terms and conditions}

6.1. The terms and conditions for the payment of a support shall be determined by the Traducta committee.

6.2. As a rule, the publication grant shall be paid as follows:

• 60% of the amount after the publisher or foreign performing arts institution has received and approved the translation, and the proofs of the payment to the translator (the publisher’s bank statement and a confirmation from the translator) have reached the Cultural Endowment of Estonia;
• 40% of the amount after the work has been published and delivered to the office of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

6.3. The committee shall reserve the right to make exceptions to the terms and conditions of payment.

Final Provisions

The Statute has been approved by the Supervisory Board of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Decision No. 4/2024-S09 of 26 June 2024. To applications submitted before the enactment of this statute the terms of the statute in force at the time of submitting the applications shall apply.