‘Portraits of Literary Translators’ was the topic chosen by CEATL for the 2014 international video contest ‘Spot the Translator’, now in its third year. The contest invites artists to help make translators more visible by creating sparky and clever short films highlighting the existence and importance of literary translators, the challenges they face and their role in literature. As in previous editions, the €1,000 prize will be awarded on International Translation Day, the 30th of September 2014. This year, the seven videos entered in the contest appeared on the Spot the translator’ event page in Facebook (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/728116183896608/728116187229941/), where people could vote for the video that they ‘liked’ the most.

The videos presented give different visions or ‘portraits’ of literary translators. Some are dedicated to a particular translator’s career or based on interviews with several translators, some get into the translator’s mind, and some opt for the use of witty and expressive cartoons. They all try to bring translators closer to the reading public by highlighting certain parts of their working and creative processes.

However, there is one which, according to the jury, best communicates what being a literary translator really means — Words Travel Worlds by Cristina Savelli and Alessandra Maldina. This film not only sums up the translator’s task, but also emphasizes its range, in that the words translated are “travelling words”. And, curiously enough, most of the words that appear on the video are not pronounced, but felt and read.

Words Travel Worlds is a condensed road-movie about translators and their link to people everywhere.

CEATL commends the high quality of videos entered in the contest and would like to thank everyone for their participation in helping make translators visible.