With the announcement of some new awards and with a renewed design, the Serra d’Or magazine has handed out its critics’ awards, honorary awards – beyond a gold serrate lapel – that highlight the production of last year and which are already reaching the 57th edition.
The story of the alphabet (The Advance), by Xènia Dyakonova; El rastre nival (Pagès Editors), by Àngels Marzo; Kennedyana (Folch
In the research categories, Marta Vallverdú won in the humanity section with the work Seixantisme. The Catalan cultural explosion of the 60s (L’Avenç), a systematic and global essay on the flourishing and expansion of anti-Franco cultural movements in Catalan-speaking territories. In science, the award went to A company with soul. Lavola, 40 years promoting sustainability (Anthesis Lavola), by Pere Colomer and Roma. The story of an international environmental services company that started as a group of Ozona friends doing environmental education and has evolved to spread knowledge and methodology to solve environmental problems and work for the sustainability of the country and the world. For Irmela Neu, the Catalan studies was for Linguistic awareness and national consciousness in Catalonia during the Renaissance (1833-1891) (Pamsa), a study of the concept of language and nation in the Renaissance based on the Germanic tradition.
As for the performing arts, Anja Hilling’s play Animal negre tristesa, directed by Julio Manrique, won the prize for the best theatrical production for the discovery of a new voice in European drama and for the aesthetic risk of posing the individual and collective responsibility for the preservation of the natural environment. R-A-U-X-A, by Aina Alegre, won the dance award with an immersive proposal in which dance acts as a bridge between tradition and the future, and articulates the scenic elements (light, sound, space) with force. The opera was for the community and popular work La gata perduda, by the residents of the Raval and the Liceu, with the involvement of residents and professionals in the performing arts and artistic mediation. The award for the most interesting contribution went to the Teatre Micalet Company for its history of more than 25 years of productions in Catalan in Valencia.
In children’s and youth literature, the children’s award went to Naïm (Piscina un Petit Oceà), with text by Joan Rioné (Naïm Batruni) and illustrations by Alba Domingo. The youth prize was won by El joc del penjat (Animallibres), by Josep Pedrals, and Ppprrrriiit took the knowledge prize. A book to create and experiment with sounds (Zahorí), by Cristina Cubells and Joana Casals. A new comics award has also been awarded, now for young people, to Dones de la muntanya (Pol·len Edicions), by Federica Ravera and Martina Manyà.
To close the event, Serra d’Or magazine made a special mention to Josep Vallverdú, in recognition of his important work as an author of children’s and youth literature.
The event was held at the Espai Endesa in Barcelona and was attended by the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pere Aragonès; of Father Abbot Manel Gasch; by Núria Mañé, director of the Publications of the Abbey of Montserrat; and from the head of the editorial board of Serra d’Or magazine, Francesc-Marc Álvaro, who has presented its redesign, with new content, with what it wants to be a new stage, without losing a spirit “that has been maintained since of 1959”, as he has said.
According to the journalist, it is about “incorporating unpublished materials and new firms, with the aim of becoming a central agora of Catalan culture, where to reflect and debate with a national, European and global perspective at the same time”, especially at a time of redefinition. Álvaro has also lamented the situation of L’Avenç magazine, and has expressed his hope that it can be rectified. The April issue, for example, is dedicated to artificial intelligence, and includes a section dedicated to comics, “which has top-level creators in Catalonia”, he concluded.
