award

On Wednesday evening, at an award ceremony in Barcelona, the Mexican author won the prestigious literary award the Planeta Prize, with his novel 'Milena o el fémur más bello del mundo' ('Milena, or the most beautiful femur in the world'). The Planeta Prize, now in its 63^rd edition, is an award bestowed on unpublished books in Spanish that are submitted under pseudonyms, and with false titles, in theory to avoid judges being biased by author’s reputations. In the case of the winner, the work was presented under the pseudonym Eduardo Nevado, with the fake title 'Los crímenes del cromosoma XY ('XY chromosome crimes­'). A finalist to the prize, was Barcelona journalist Pilar Eyre, who submitted her work 'Mi color favorito es verte' ('Seeing you is my favourite colour'), under the alias Coral Teide and title 'Se llamaba Sébastien' ('His name was Sébastien').

Luis Suárez is the golden boy. On Wednesday at the Damm Brewery in Barcelona he was presented with the Golden Shoe award that he shares this year with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who both scored 31 goals in the Premiership and La Liga last season, respectively. Kenny Dalglish presented the Uruguayan with the award in recognition of the 31 goals that he scored last season at Liverpool. The new Barça signing was in glowing form alongside his wife Sofia at an event that attracted massive media attention, with more than 100 members of the press packed into the hall.

The FC Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has won the Golden Foot 2014. Iniesta collected the award ahead of nine other active footballers aged 28 or over to become the first Barça player to ever win an accolade that has been awarded annually since 2003. He collected the trophy at a gala on Monday evening held in Monaco, where he was joined by FC Barcelona’s Director of Football, Andoni Zubizarreta; his wife, Anna Ortiz; his agent, Ramon Sostres and Joel Borràs of Mediabase Sports. Anyone could vote for the winner in an Internet poll that this year has put Iniesta ahead of nine other nominees: Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Manuel Neuer, Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Silva, Franck Ribéry, former FCB men Touré Yaya and Thierry Henry, and Brazilian women’s footballer Marta Vieira Da Silva

On Tuesday evening the Barcelona-born opera tenor, Josep Carreras received the Golden Medal of the Catalan Parliament for his outstanding and internationally-recognised professional career, but also for his efforts leading a foundation that fights Leukaemia. In his acceptance speech, Carreras defended Catalonia's right to self-determination and the independence vote scheduled for the 9^th of November. Carreras, who became a true world star in the 1990s with the Three Tenors, praised the idiom "live and let live", meaning that the Spanish authorities should authorise the self-determination vote. He asked the Catalan MPs "to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the others live and let us live". His words were particularly relevant as they were said at such an important event and two days ahead of the massive pro-independence demonstration, which will take place in Barcelona on Catalonia's National Day (the 11^th of September).

On Thursday evening the British author who is responsible for the Jack Reacher series of crime novels, Lee Child, received in Barcelona the VIII RBA Award for Crime Writing for his latest book in the series, 'Personal'. Child could not attend the ceremony for personal reasons so his literary agent, Mary Darby, read out a statement from the British writer instead. "Thank you for this prestigious award, I feel greatly honoured and proud to accept it", he said. The judging panel, which selected Child's novel from 244 submitted manuscripts, highlighted "the original composition of an atypical action hero" in the book, which reveals much about the world of "intelligence services and criminal gangs". 

Barcelona-born photographer Joan Fontcuberta presents his first major exhibition in the UK, ‘Stranger than Fiction’, which represents an overview of 30 years of his artistic work on nature photography. It opened on Wednesday at London’s Science Museum's Media Space and will be running until the 9^th of November. The six-part collection of pictures and artefacts aims to examine the presumed reliability of photography and shake the viewer's consciousness by mixing fact with fiction, science with art, and persuasive storytelling with a deep questioning. After London, the exhibition will travel to the National Media Museum in Bradford (northern England) from the 19^th of November 2014 to the 8^th of February 2015.

In the five years since it opened, the T1 Terminal of Barcelona El Prat Airport has received over 111 million people, overseen approximately 1.3 million take-off and landing operations and processed 70 million items of luggage. The new airport terminal became operational on 17 June 2009 and marked its fifth anniversary on Tuesday. The new terminal has processed twice as many passengers in this period than the older T2 terminal. In addition, Barcelona El Prat Airport was on Tuesday night announced as the best airport in Europe, at the ACI (Airport Council International) Europe Awards 2014 held in Frankfurt. It was the second time the airport has received this accolade.

"The parties should discuss how independence can be best achieved," if the majority of Catalans choose this option in a self-determination referendum, stated the South African Archbishop and anti-Apartheid activist, Desmond Tutu. When he was receiving the 2014 Premi Internacional Catalunya – Catalonia's most prestigious award given to people who have significantly contributed to Humankind throughout the world, Tutu directly appealed to the Spanish authorities "to listen" to the majority of Catalans, since "it's common sense." The Nobel Peace Laureate urged Spain to allow Catalans to freely and democratically hold a self-determination referendum. He also said that consensus is better than unilateral decision, which is "the second best." The Archbishop dedicated the award to all the people fighting against a series of causes, such as AIDS in South Africa, war in Syria, torture in Guantanamo, homophobia in Uganda, pollution in Northern Canada or not being allowed self-determination in Catalonia. "They do the work and I get the credit," he said ironically.

The South-African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has travelled to Barcelona to receive the XXVI Premi Internacional Catalunya, the highest tribute the Catalan Government accords following an independent jury's decision. The award recognises people who have made significant contributions to Humankind. Addressing journalists on Tuesday morning, ahead of the evening award ceremony in Barcelona, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate spoke of the Spanish authorities' necessity of an open dialogue about Catalan independence. Tutu was surprised that such a vote could take place in Scotland but not in Catalonia. He stated that Spain's denial of the strong support for self-rule only exacerbates the problem. At the press conference, the Archbishop also touched upon the subject of King Juan Carlos' abdication, saying he believed a monarchy could be a force for good when "it helps draw people together", although he also underlined that all human beings are equal.

89 beaches and 24 marinas in Catalonia are among those sharing the highest quality standards in Europe, since they have received a blue flag. This award is given for the quality of the water, the cleanness of the environment, easy access for people with mobility problems, the security services and other indicators. Last year, 90 beaches received a blue flag while this year Catalonia received one award less. Beaches on the Costa Brava kept their 28 blue flags, those on the Costa Daurada and the Ebro Delta also kept their 38 awards, but the coast of Barcelona went from 24 to 23 quality awards. Spain has received a total of 573 blue flags for its beaches and 108 for its marinas, a record, with 23 more beaches and 11 more marinas on the list. In this way, Spain continues to top the list among 48 states and 51 territories.

Desmond Tutu, the South-African Archbishop who fought the Apartheid regime and won the Nobel Peace Prize, has been awarded the 26^th Premi Internacional Catalunya. This is the most prestigious prize given by the Catalan Government and follows the decision of an independent jury formed of high-profile professionals from Catalonia and abroad. The jury has chosen Tutu from 162 other names from 51 different countries for "his vigorous and constant fight for social justice and the improvement of living conditions of those oppressed". Last year, the Premi Internacional Catalunya was awarded to the former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland and to the young Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai for "their determination and courage in the defence of human rights". Other awardees have been Lula da Silva, Haruki Murakami, Jimmy Carter, Jacques Delors, Amartya Sen and Aung San Suu Kyi, among others.

Jaume Cabré’s latest novel, Jo confesso (‘I confess’), which was recently awarded the Courrier International Prize for ‘Best foreign book’, will be translated into 20 languages. The work has already been published in 9 languages ??and will be available in English in 2015. The Catalan writer has been praised internationally for his novels delving into the human condition and reflecting on mankind’s propensity towards evil. In Jo confesso, a multi-layered novel starting in Barcelona in the 1950s, the main character investigates his family’s past and wealth, going all the way back to the very origins of evil, notably Spanish Inquisition, Franco dictatorship and Nazi Germany. Cabré’s contribution to the projection of Catalan culture abroad will be rewarded this Tuesday by Barcelona’s City Council.  

The novel ‘La vida era eso’ by Carmen Amoraga has won the Nadal Award, in the 70^th anniversary of this literary prize given by Destino publishing house. Albert Villaró with his roman ‘Els ambaixadors’ was awarded the Josep Pla Prize for prose in Catalan, also given by Destino, on the same evening. Amoraga’s book tells the story of a woman who dives into the social networks after the death of her husband. The novel by Villaró invents an alternative outcome of the historical facts that happened in October 1934, when the Catalan President Lluís Companys proclaimed the “Catalan State of the Spanish Federal Republic”.

FC Barcelona’s star Leo Messi has again received recognition as one of the very best! The Argentinean has been selected as one of the three final candidates for FIFA's 2013 Ballon D'Or award, together with Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid). Messi has won the award for the last four years. The 2013 winner will be announced in Zurich on January 13.

Catalan writer Eduardo Mendoza was proclaimed winner of the European Book Prize 2013 in the novel category for An Englishman in Madrid (Riña de gatos, Madrid 1936). Mendoza rose to fame in the late 1970s and the 1980s by publishing several books on his home-town, Barcelona. However, in his latest novel, the writer has decided to explore the political tensions in Madrid at the very beginning of the Spanish Civil War (1936), through the perception of a foreigner, an Englishman. The other finalists were Luciana Castellina for Discovering the World, Vassilis Alexakis for The Greek Child (L’Enfant Grec), and Petros Markaris for Lixiprothesma dania. Furthermore, Arnaud Leparmentier has won in the essay category for Ces Français fossoyeurs de l’euro.