The awards ceremony will be on 11 February, at 6 pm, under the artistic direction of Pep Salazar and presented by journalist Núria Dias.

The ceremony includes a performance by the Playmodes studio, with a lighting project designed by Albaladejo and music in collaboration with the ESMUC. The USTED studio has also prepared graphics for the occasion.

The City of Barcelona Awards aim to offer an event that strengthens the citizen dimension. To this end, the visuals have been tasked to students from the city’s design schools since 2017, with this year’s project headed by the Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny Deià. Twenty-five proposals were received, with the design by Maria Trasiera and Maria Tejera winning for its original and innovative graphic style and its use of technological resources and formal qualities.

The award-winners for this edition are:

Agustí Duran i Sanpere History of Barcelona Award: Ximena Illanes Zubieta

The jury gives this award to the author of the book En manos de otros: Infancia y abandono en la Barcelona del siglo XV, Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 2019. The work covers the history of an institute founded in the medieval period and still going strong today, the Hospital de la Santa Creu de Barcelona, and the work it does to protect childhood.

Architecture and Urban Planning: Anna Noguera and Javier Fernández

Anna Noguera and Javier Fernández are the architects of the Turó de la Peira Municipal Sports Centre. The jury valued the promotion of quality public facilities, as well as the centre’s complete integration in a complex urban situation. Thanks to simple and solid strategy, the project resolves many of the challenges posed by the location: its uneven terrain, access points and the relationship with local residents. The project’s high quality and open-plan upper space and its sustainable use of wood in its structure also stand out.

Visual Arts: Mireia Sallarès

Kao malo vode na dlanu (‘like a little bit of water in the palm of the hand’) is a project by Mireia Sallarès about love in Serbia. The author wins the award for her multidisciplinary research, which focuses on affection as a way of reflecting and defending activism on interpersonal relationships and power.

Essays, Social Sciences and Humanities: Marta Marín-Dòmine

Marta Marín wins the award with her book Fugir era el més bell que teníem, which uses a biographical account as an exercise in collective memory about exile, being uprooted and the city of Barcelona, at the same time addressing current social topics.

The jury also gives a special mention for the work Sempre han parlat per nosaltres, by Najat El Hachmi, for a personal reflection on a current debate within the framework of feminism.

Audio-visuals: Dones Visuals

The jury gives the award to Dones Visuals for its support initiatives and the visibility given to the work of women film directors, in particular through the programmes ‘Acció curts’, ‘Acció viver’, and ‘Directori’, as well as its commitment to the transformation of man-made ideals.

Life Sciences: Research project Patient-specific IPSC-derived astrocytes contribute to non-cell autonomous neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease

This research project was headed by Antonella Consiglio and Ángel Raya and published in the magazine Cell Stem Cell. The jury highlighted its quality and the significant advance in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. The work implies a change of paradigm as it considers the participation of glial cells in the neuronal degeneration in Parkinson’s disease, opening up new paths for therapeutic development.

Environmental and Earth Sciences: Scientific research project Upper-plate rigidity determines depth-varying rupture behaviour of megathrust earthquakes

Published in the magazine Nature in 2019, by the authors Valentí Sallarès and César R. Ranero from the Institut de Ciències del Mar de Barcelona (CSIC) and ICREA, this research project proposes a new model with a paradigmatic shift in the consideration of the elasticity of materials during earthquakes, substantially improving the forecast of tsunamis.

The jury gives a special mention to the work Effectiveness of commercial face masks to reduce personal PM exposure, by the group EGAR, which gives visibility to increasing scientific efforts striving for air quality in the city of Barcelona.

Experimental Science and Technology: Doctor Juan Carlos Morales

The researcher from the Institut de Ciències de l’Espai del CSIC and the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) wins the award for the discovery of a giant planet and gas around a small star (GJ 3512), which are used to question established theories about the formation of planets and pose completely new scenarios. The result of this research was published in the magazine Science in September 2019, with the title A giant exoplanet orbiting a very-low-mass star challenges planet formation models. This discovery opens up the possibility of considering the existence of types of planetary systems which differ from those we know about at present.

Circus: Baró d’Evel company

The Baró d’Evel company take this award for their show Falaise, which transported the jury to an emotional and exciting cliff-edge, displaying a marvellous animal diversity in the bodies and spirits of the performers, and because it unites movement and risk with live visual creation, breaking down barriers between art forms.

Popular and Traditional Culture: Associació Carabutsí

The jury wants this award to recognise the association’s preservation, value and contribution to the memory of the Roma people from the perspective of gender and intercultural action. Also, for the consolidation of a process to interpret and promote the Roma identity and heritage in the city of Barcelona, strengthening roots and the creation of local interrelating ties in the context of community networks.

The jury also gives a special mention to Josep Fornés Garcia for his cultural activism, particularly linked to the city of Barcelona, and for his ability to generate processes and networks and provide a critical point of view borne out of academic rigour.

Dance: Set of Sets

The choreographers Guy Nader and Maria Campos are the authors of this work, which has been recognised for its compositional quality, superbly crystallising their research work.

Design: Sara González de Ubieta

This innovative work on footwear design, published in Pràctica, led the jury to give the award to the designer Sara González de Ubieta, highlighting her research on non-conventional and sustainable materials, which formally rethinks the classic concept of footwear, as well as her interaction with local crafts.

The jury also give a special mention to the independent publication fair Gutter Fest for its collective capacity for raising the profile of Barcelona’s self-managed graphic arts community.

Education: Exhibition ‘Antoni Benaiges, el mestre que va prometre el mar’

The jury values the original and educational focus of this exhibition organised by the Museu Marítim de Barcelona and Memorial Democràtic and recovering silenced educational heritage. The display also establishes a dialogue between the past and the present, showing the values of democratic schooling at a time when they are being questioned and we need to keep them in mind.

Spanish Literature: Mateo Garcia Elizondo

The author wins the award for his work Una cita con la Lady, for a brilliant piece of prose which uses no metaphors in its construction of the inner life of a marginal character, extraordinarily recovering the classic purpose of good death.

Catalan Literature: Serem Atlàntida, by Joan Benesiu

This is a highly ambitious literary narrative by Edicions del Periscopi. The play provides a brilliant description of the current conflict over the construction of a personal and collective identity from a European perspective.

Media: Betevé coverage of the mobilisations in Barcelona followed the sentences in the trial against pro-indy leaders

This award highlights the excellence of the information given to explain these events in a hugely complex political and social climate. The jury valued the thoroughness and professionalism of the whole team, headed live in the studio by the journalist Eva Arderius. The award recognises the work done in the street and in the studio over those days by the team of professionals from this channel, offering a calmly handled broadcast and an accomplished use of images and language.

Music: Chicuelo and Marco Mezquida

Chicuelo and Marco Mezquida take this award for their disc No hay dos sin tres, presented at L’Auditori de Barcelona on 25 October 2019. The jury recognises their ability for conjugating improvisation and composition, for generating a dialogue between generations, traditions and styles, and for infusing enthusiasm, naturalness and fresh energy with a musical combination reflecting and projecting Barcelona’s boldness and recreational and Mediterranean spirit.

Theatre: Silvia Delagneau and Max Glaenzel

The scenography and costumes from the show Europa Bull stand out for their contribution to the dramaturgy, irony and aesthetic quality of this production, as well as the vision they offer, the play’s commitment to creation and the hybrid use of languages in collaboration.

Translation into Catalan: Arnau Barios

The jury valued the translation of the work Eugeni Oneguin, by Aleksandr Pushkin, for the brilliant handling of a universal classic which is very distant linguistically and culturally. The jury highlights the ambition and consistency of the translator, achieving a text which delivers, keeps up the rhythm of the original and at the same time enables today’s readers to identify with it.