The poet Jaume Pont wins the Special Prize in the 17th edition of the Jesús Serra Poetry Competition

"The prize, worth €5,000, will be presented to the winning author at the awards ceremony, which is being held on Friday 28 June at Torre Bellesguard in Barcelona."

The Catalan poet and university professor Jaume Pont has been named winner of the 5th Fundación Occident Jesús Serra Special Poetry Award, which forms part of the 17th edition of its Poetry Competition. The award, which recognises the poetic work of an established writer with a €5,000 prize, will be presented at the award ceremony on 28 June at Torre Bellesguard in Barcelona.

According to the jury, comprising renowned authors such as Elena Medel Navarro, David Castillo Buïls, Ricardo Fernández, Carlos Zanón and Andrea Vallbuena, that "throughout his career, the poet Jaume Pont has demonstrated his commitment to popularising poetry, both through his own poetry and in the study of poetic tradition and forms."

This 17th edition of the competition, which had the goal of promoting poetic creation, received a total of 1,258 entries from 33 countries around the world.

In addition to the Special Prize, the list of winners in the various categories is as follows:

• Adult category in Spanish: Alejandra Sevilla López (21) from Madrid, with the poem 'Encarnación Cebrián', prize €2,500.
• Adult category in Catalan: Cristina Oliva Díaz (49) from Barcelona, with the poem 'Saladina', prize €2,500.
• Youth category in Spanish: Victoria Arregui Sancho (15) from Valladolid, prize €1,500. It should be noted that Victoria was also the winner in this category last year and in 2022 she was awarded the children's prize.
• Youth category in Catalan: Daniel Martín Sánchez (18) from Castellón, with the poem 'Finals de març', prize €1,500.
• Children's category in Spanish: Sofía Elena Stefan (13) from Maliaño (Cantabria), with the poem 'Entre sombras', prize €800.
• Children's category in Catalan: Cian Sullivan Martin (12) from Barcelona, with the poem 'Refugi', prize €800.

In the words of the Managing Director of Fundación Occident, Ignacio Gallardo-Bravo, "here at the Foundation we are committed to fostering cultural appreciation in general, especially poetry, in order to promote this genre among citizens of all ages and from different parts of the world". Our wish is to continue with the legacy of the founder of GCO, Jesús Serra, and to continue celebrating new editions of these consolidated awards".

Fundación Occident also runs the project "Poetízate. Poesía en las aulas" (Get into poetry, poetry in the classroom), which seeks to bring poetry closer to young people as a tool for expression and communication. The project has been running at different education centres since 2019, and more than 152 institutes and schools have been visited at which more than 7,500 students have participated.