Miguel de Cervantes Award
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize for Literature in the Spanish Language, also known as the Cervantes Prize or Miguel de Cervantes Prize, is an award of literature in the Spanish language awarded annually by the Ministry of Culture and Sports at the proposal of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language.
History
It was instituted in 1976 and is considered the most important literary award in the Spanish language, despite not being the highest amount. It is intended to distinguish the overall work of a Spanish-language author whose contribution to the heritage Hispanic culture has been decisive.
It is endowed with 125,000 euros and takes its name from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of what is considered the greatest work of Castilian literature, Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Its first edition took place in 1976. The Cervantes Prize cannot be divided, declared void or awarded posthumously, according to the rules established after the jury decided to award the prize in the 1979 edition "ex aequo" the Spanish Gerardo Diego and the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges.
The candidates for the Miguel de Cervantes Award are proposed by the plenary session of the Royal Spanish Academy, by the Language Academies of Spanish-speaking countries and by the winners in past editions.
The jury was made up of the director of the Royal Spanish Academy, the director of a Spanish-American Language Academy, which changes every year, the winner of the previous edition and six personalities from the academic, literary or university world, Hispanic Americans, "of recognized prestige."
Since the 2008 edition, the composition of the jury follows a new model that supposes a greater proportion of members appointed by entities of an elective nature: the last two winners of the Cervantes Prize itself; a member of the Royal Spanish Academy; a member of one of the Ibero-American Academies of the Spanish language; four personalities from the academic, university and literary world, of recognized prestige, proposed, respectively, by the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities, the Union of Latin American Universities, the director of the Cervantes Institute and the Minister of Culture of Spain; two members chosen from among representatives of newspaper cultural supplements, proposed, respectively, by the Federation of Associations of Spanish Journalists and the Inter-American Press Association; and one proposed by the International Association of Hispanists, of non-Spanish or Ibero-American nationality.
It is decided at the end of the year and delivered on April 23 of the following, coinciding with the date on which the death of Miguel de Cervantes is commemorated. It is held at the University of Alcalá de Henares. The King of Spain, Felipe VI, presides over the delivery of this award in the Auditorium of the University of Alcalá. In this solemn act, the king, the Spanish Minister of Culture and the award-winning author deliver speeches in which the life and literary production of the award-winning person, the work of Cervantes and the classic authors of our language are glossed, as well as the state from language.
Candidates
The candidates for the Miguel de Cervantes Award are proposed by the plenary session of the Royal Spanish Academy, by the Language Academies of Spanish-speaking countries and by the winners in past editions. Every year around thirty candidates present themselves, among whom only five or six have a real chance of obtaining the award[citation required].
Award Winners
List of winners
| List of awards with Cervantes Award |
| Year | Author | Other prizes of relevance for the entire career | Nationality | Speech acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Jorge Guillén (1893-1984) | Spain Spain | [1] | |
| 1977 | Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) | Cuba Cuba | [2] | |
| 1978 | Damaso Alonso (1898-1990) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1927 | SpainSpain | [3] |
| 1979 (ex aequo) | Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) | National Prize of Letters of Argentina in 1957 |  Argentina | [4] |
| Gerardo Diego (1896-1987) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1925 | SpainSpain | [5] | |
| 1980 | Juan Carlos Onetti (1909-1994) | Uruguay National Literature Award in 1985 | Uruguay Uruguay | [6] |
| 1981 | Eighth Peace (1914-1998) | Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990 Mexico National Literature and Linguistic Award in 1977 | Mexico Mexico | [7] |
| 1982 | Luis Rosales (1910-1992) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1973 | SpainSpain | [8] |
| 1983 | Rafael Alberti (1902-1999) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1924 | SpainSpain | [9] |
| 1984 | Ernesto Sabato (1911-2011) | Argentina | [10] | |
| 1985 | Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1910-1999) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1981 Prince of Asturias Award in 1982 | SpainSpain | [11] |
| 1986 | Antonio Buero Vallejo (1916-2000) | National Prize for Spanish Letters in 1996 | SpainSpain | [12] |
| 1987 | Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012) | Mexican National Literature and Linguistic Award in 1984 Prince of Asturias Prize in 1994 | Mexico Mexico | [13] |
| 1988 | Maria Zambrano (1904-1991) | Prince of Asturias Prize in Communication and Humanities in 1981 | SpainSpain | [14] |
| 1989 | Augusto Roa Bastos (1917-2005) | Paraguay National Literature Award in 1995 | Paraguay Paraguay | [15] |
| 1990 | Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914-1999) | National Prize of Letters of Argentina in 1970 | Argentina | [16] |
| 1991 | Francisco Ayala (1906-2009) | Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas en 1988 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 1998 | SpainSpain | [17] |
| 1992 | Sweet Mary Loynaz (1902-1997) | Cuban National Literature Award in 1987 | CubaCuba | [18] |
| 1993 | Miguel Delibes (1920-2010) | Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas en 1991 Prince of Asturias Award in 1982 | SpainSpain | [19] |
| 1994 | Mario Vargas Llosa (1936) | Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 1986 | Peru Peru | [20] |
| 1995 | Camilo José Cela (1916-2002) | Nobel Prize in Literature in 1989 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 1987 | SpainSpain | [21] |
| 1996 | José García Nieto (1914-2001) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1951 and 1957 | SpainSpain | [22] |
| 1997 | Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1929-2005) | CubaCuba | [23] | |
| 1998 | José Hierro (1922-2002) | National Prize for Spanish Letters in 1990 Prince of Asturias Prize in 1981 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 1995 | SpainSpain | [24] |
| 1999 | Jorge Edwards (1931) | Chile National Literature Award in 1994 | Chile Chile
| [25] |
| 2000 | Francisco Umbral (1932-2007) | National Prize for Spanish Letters in 1997 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 1996 | SpainSpain | [26] |
| 2001 | Álvaro Mutis (1923-2013) | National Letras Award of Colombia in 1974 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 1997 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 1997 | Colombia Colombia | [27] |
| 2002 | José Jiménez Lozano (1930-2020) | National Prize for Spanish Letters in 1992 | SpainSpain | [28] |
| 2003 | Gonzalo Rojas (1917-2011) | Chile National Literature Award in 1992 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 1992 | ChileChile | [29] |
| 2004 | Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio (1927-2019) | Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas en 2009 | SpainSpain | [30] |
| 2005 | Sergio Pitol (1933-2018) | Mexico National Literature and Linguistic Award in 1993 | Mexico Mexico | [31] |
| 2006 | Antonio Gamoneda (1931) | Spanish National Literature Award in 1988 | SpainSpain | [32] |
| 2007 | Juan Gelman (1930-2014) | National Prize of Letters of Argentina in 1997 | Argentina | [33] |
| 2008 | Juan Marsé (1933-2020) | Spanish National Literature Award in 2001 | SpainSpain | [34] |
| 2009 | José Emilio Pacheco (1939-2014) | Mexico National Literature and Linguistic Award in 1992 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2009 Ibero-American Prize for Letters José Donoso in 2001 Federico García Lorca International Poetry Award in 2005 | Mexico Mexico | [35] |
| 2010 | Ana María Matute (1925-2014) | Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas en 2007 | SpainSpain | [36] |
| 2011 | Nicanor Parra (1914-2018) | Chilean National Literature Award in 1969 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2001 | ChileChile | [37] |
| 2012 | José Manuel Caballero Bonald (1926-2021) | National Prize for Spanish Letters in 2005 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2004 Federico García Lorca International Poetry Award in 2009 | SpainSpain | [38] |
| 2013 | Elena Poniatowska (1932) | Mexican National Literature and Linguistic Award in 2002 | Mexico Mexico | [39] |
| 2014 | Juan Goytisolo (1931-2017) | Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas en 2008 | SpainSpain | [40] |
| 2015 | Fernando del Paso (1935-2018) | Mexican National Literature and Linguistic Award in 1991 | Mexico Mexico | [41] |
| 2016 | Eduardo Mendoza (1943) | SpainSpain | [42] | |
| 2017 | Sergio Ramírez (1942) | Ibero-American Prize of Letters José Donoso in 2011 | Nicaragua Nicaragua | [43] |
| 2018 | Ida Vitale (1923) | Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2015 Federico García Lorca International Poetry Award in 2016 | Uruguay Uruguay | [44] |
| 2019 | Joan Margarit (1938-2021) | Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2019 | SpainSpain
| |
| 2020 | Francisco Brines (1932-2021) | National Prize for Spanish Letters in 1999 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2010 Federico García Lorca International Poetry Award in 2007 | SpainSpain
| |
| 2021 | Cristina Peri Rossi (1941) | Ibero-American Prize of Letters José Donoso in 2019 | Uruguay Uruguay
| |
| 2022 | Rafael Cadenas (1930) | National Literature Prize of Venezuela 1985
International Poetry Prize Federico García Lorca 2015 Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry in 2018 | Venezuela Venezuela
|
Origin of the winners
Previously there was an unwritten rule, custom or tendency, to alternate the awards between writers of Spanish and American nationality. Although there have been exceptions when Spanish writers or American writers have been awarded prizes for two consecutive years, this circumstance has never occurred for three consecutive years; and in the total calculation until 2022, half of the awards have been for Spanish writers. The other half has been distributed among writers from ten Latin American countries: Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Colombia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. The Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, son of a diplomat, was born in Panama, although he has always had Mexican nationality; like Elena Poniatowska, born in Paris.
The award-winning Spanish authors have their origins in nine of the seventeen Spanish autonomous communities. For this purpose, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, born in Rome for work reasons of his father Rafael Sánchez Mazas, but raised in Madrid, is considered to be from Madrid.
By country
| By Spanish Autonomous Communities
|
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
Acknowledgment and criticism
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize enjoys enormous prestige and is often equated to the Nobel Prize for Literature in the field of the Spanish language, assuming in many cases the definitive consecration of the award-winning authors, especially at a popular level. All the winners have generally enjoyed the recognition of literary and academic critics, many of them being considered "essential" of literature in Spanish.
However, like any other recognition that is granted based on subjective criteria, it has not been exempt from criticism and controversy over time.
The most frequent criticisms refer to omissions, claiming that a particular writer should have received the award. In some cases they have been corrected by granting it after years. But the ban on awarding it posthumously has definitively excluded several deceased authors from the list of winners, the most criticized case being that of the Colombian Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014), although it was the author himself who declared after winning the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1982 that he would not accept any other recognition or award. The presence of authors such as the Venezuelan Arturo Uslar Pietri (1906-2001), the Colombian Eduardo Carranza (1913-1985), the Argentine Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), the Mexican Juan Rulfo (1918-1986), the Uruguayan Mario Benedetti (1920-2009), Guatemalan Augusto Monterroso (1921-2003), or Chilean José Donoso (1924-1996). Among Spaniards, the Nobel laureate Vicente Aleixandre (1898-1984), Ramón J. Sender (1902-1982), Miguel Mihura (1905-1977), Blas de Otero (1916-1979), Gloria Fuertes (1917-1998) is often mentioned.), José Luis Sampedro (1917-2013), Francisco García Pavón (1919-1989), Carmen Laforet (1921-2004), Carlos Bousoño (1923-2015), Carmen Martín Gaite (1925-2000), Jaime Gil de Biedma (1929-1990), José Ángel Valente (1929-2000), or Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1939-2003).
Regarding the winners, the first controversy arose in 1979 when Jorge Luis Borges and Gerardo Diego were awarded ex aequo, since without questioning the merits of both "giants" of the Hispanic Literature, the simultaneous concession was much criticized. From that moment on, the regulations of the Prize were modified, imposing that its concession must be individual.
Later, although his literary merits were unquestionable, some sectors questioned the awards granted to the dissident Cubans Dulce María Loynaz in 1992 and Guillermo Cabrera Infante in 1997, alleging that they had been granted in order to encourage opposition to the Cuban Castro regime.
Camilo José Cela, who had been a finalist for the Prize without obtaining it in 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1988, also questioned the politicization of the award, especially when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, giving rise to great controversy and Going so far as to disqualify the Cervantes Prize, stating that "it is sufficiently discredited and covered in shit to make me worry." As a result, the regulation was modified excluding the Spanish Ministry of Culture from the jury. Finally, Cela was awarded the award seven years later, in 1995, and in subsequent years he joined the jury, acquiring enormous influence in his final decisions.
In 2000, the granting of the Award to Francisco Umbral was questioned, partly because of his conservative political ideas [citation required] and partly because it was stated that Camilo José Cela he had pressured the jury in his favor and to the detriment of Carlos Bousoño. Political interference was also argued in the concession in 2002 to José Jiménez Lozano, who was described as "head poet" of the then president of the Spanish government José María Aznar, and the same was said in 2006 of Antonio Gamoneda, also calling him a "head poet" of the next president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Permanent was the controversy regarding the possible granting of the award to Gabriel García Márquez, since he received the Nobel Prize in 1982 until his death in 2014. The jury was always reluctant to grant it, to avoid discrediting the Prize given the possibility that the Colombian author rejected it, although many voices affirmed that it should be granted, regardless of whether he later accepted or rejected it. It was also stated that the granting of the 2001 award to fellow Colombian Álvaro Mutis was compensation to Colombian literature for never having been awarded to García Márquez.
In addition to the frequent questioning of the award for political reasons, an accusation that seems to have been declining in the last decade, there are other generic criticisms of the Award launched by different sectors, but that do not usually represent generalized opinions in the literary and academic circles. Among them we can highlight:
- The awards to 50% would overestimate the Spanish authors against the Americans.
- The award of only six women in forty-five years would discriminate against women ' s literature.
- The concession to authors of very advanced age who have already completed their literary production would detriment that other younger authors have the opportunity to consecrate themselves.[chuckles]required]
- The important economic contribution to reward those who are already fully consecrated and who are in the final line of their lives could be used for other cultural purposes.[chuckles]required]
- The prevalence of novelists and poets among the winners is detrimental to those who cultivate other genres, such as playwrights, journalists, essayists, humorists or screenwriters.