Luis García Montero, Blanquerna Award Winner

The director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero, has been honoured with the Blanquerna award, a prize granted by the Generalitat of Catalonia through its delegation in Madrid, to acknowledge the work of individuals or entities that have contributed to the development and understanding of Catalonia. The Catalan Government, led by Salvador Illa, awards him for his career as a "promoter of Catalan literature, as a poet, critic, and professor, as well as his commitment to all the literatures of the State from the direction of the Instituto Cervantes," and also for transforming the Instituto Cervantes "into a bridge to foster dialogue among all Spanish cultures in a commitment to diversity."

The poet receives the award amidst controversy with the RAE, which began last week at a breakfast briefing of the New Communication Forum where the institution's challenges were discussed and continued at the 10th International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE), currently being held in Arequipa, Peru. When asked about the relationship between the directors of the Instituto Cervantes and the RAE, García Montero candidly responded: "I must also acknowledge that as a philologist, I was used to speaking with Don Fernando Lázaro Carreter, Don Víctor García de la Concha, Don Darío Villanueva, great philologists and great men of culture, and now the academy is in the hands of a professor of Administrative Law, an expert in managing businesses from his office for multimillion-dollar companies, and that personally also creates a distance."

Interestingly, Fernando Lázaro Carreter was the first person to receive the Blanquerna award in 1993, which is named after the work of philosopher and poet Ramón Llull. For 17 consecutive editions, the prize was awarded to individuals such as Adolfo Suárez, Octavio Paz, Jorge Semprún, Carmen Cervera, Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza; Antonio Garrigues Walker, Esther Koplowitz, or Iñaki Gabilondo. The 18th edition was left vacant, and six years later, in 2017, it was awarded to Vicente del Bosque and the New Economy Forum.

Since then, the Blanquerna award had not been convened again. The jury for this 20th edition was chaired by the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, and included the Government's delegate in Madrid, Núria Marín, as vice-president. The list of members includes prominent figures from the cultural, journalistic, and academic fields: journalists Jordi Amat, Àngels Barceló, and Enric Juliana; actress and creator Irene Escolar; writer and university professor José María Lassalle; director of the Felipe González Foundation, Rocío Martínez-Sempere; and Alfaguara editor, Carme Riera Sanfeliu. The award will be presented to the awarded individual or entity in a solemn ceremony to be held in Madrid and presided over by the President of the Generalitat.