STATEMENT: Her Majesty the Queen presents the 2024 SM El Barco de Vapor y Gran Angular Awards

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* The legend of the samurai and the blue butterfly by Pedro Caldas and Intruso by David Lozano were the distinguished works, respectively.

* The authors were accompanied by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría; José Manuel Cidad, president of SM; and Mayte Ortiz, director of the SM Foundation; among other prominent authorities from the world of culture and education. * The event, presented by the journalist and writer María Gómez, was held at the Real Casa de Correos in Madrid.

* The SM Foundation created these awards, the most important for Children's and Young People's Literature in the Spanish language, in 1978 to promote literary creation for children and young people. In this edition, more than 240 manuscripts have been received.

Madrid, May 7, 2024.- H.M. The Queen presided over the presentation of the SM El Barco de Vapor Prize for children's literature to Pedro Caldas (Seville, 1973) for the book The Legend of the Samurai and the Blue Butterfly, and the SM Gran Angular Prize for youth literature to David Lozano (Zaragoza, 1974) by Intruso, during a ceremony held at the Real Casa de Correos in Madrid. At this ceremony of granting the awards in the forty-sixth edition of the SM Awards of the SM Foundation, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, welcomed "to everyone's house", an event that she described "significant" because "when youth surrounds themselves with books, they surround themselves with dreams, develop their imagination, live their creativity intensely and enlarge their inner world," in his own words.

Doña Letizia was also accompanied by the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría; Mayte Ortiz, director of the SM Foundation; and José Manuel Cidad, president of SM; among other prominent authorities from the world of education and culture. Her Majesty the Queen celebrated "that children's and youth literature enjoys vigor and health in our country." He praised the winning works, very different in appearance but also with "some elements in common: that inquiry into how we can protect what we cannot see, respect for seniority (that of the samurai, that of Dani in the juvenile center), the importance of friendship, the attentive beauty of light and, of course, the convenience of abandoning prejudices and black and white Manicheanism to understand the scope of the grays in life."

Doña Letizia highlighted The Legend of the Samurai and the Blue Butterfly by Pedro Caldas as a "rejuvenating exercise" that also allows us to "immerse ourselves in medieval Japan," and praised "his skill in telling complex things from symbolism and fantasy." He also thanked David Lozano, author of Intruso, "for the courage of having known how to create a novel for adolescents that talks about crimes committed by minors and bullying, mistreatment and abuse, and the consequences that these behaviors have. ".

In her speech, the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, declared her admiration for the winners for being able to "unite the real world, current events, with fiction." She highlighted the rising value of The Legend of the Samurai and the Blue Butterfly, "knowing how to put yourself in the eyes and skin of your opponent, and take care of the little things that surround us." Regarding Intruder, she praised that it is "a book starring minors to whom life gives a second chance."

For his part, the president of SM, José Manuel Cidad, issued an invitation to “return to the origin.” To personal origins, "return to the place where our childhood passed, at least once a year", as has been done with the help of the SM Foundation every time these awards are presented, uninterruptedly since 1978, to works that, in addition , are, “light and guide for future literature on many occasions.” He also suggested “rescuing some elements of origin in education, showing our recognition and support for teachers and, as the SM Foundation's latest campaign says, raising our hand for the teacher. And put each student at the center, with their deep needs and desires and dedicate all possible means, as long as they help them in their growth in a comprehensive way, with courage, but also with responsibility."

He concluded by paying tribute to the great protagonists of the gala: “the books. And its creators. Books that ask us to stop, be silent, concentrate, to overcome that initial barrier, knowing the reward of the pleasure of reading. Books that move us, that make us enjoy, that lead us to beauty, that provoke questions in us, that invite us to empathize with others, that help us find ourselves, like the two award-winning works.”

SM El Barco de Vapor and Wide Angle Awards

The jury of the SM El Barco de Vapor 2024 Award has chosen The Legend of the Samurai and the Blue Butterfly by Pedro Caldas as the best work of children's literature for being “a breath of fresh air in current children's and youth literature, which discovers readers the attentive beauty of intelligence combined with humor, and because it is a novel of adventures woven with irony and Japanese delicacy, in which not a single piece is left over or missing.” For its part, the jury's decision to award the SM Gran Angular 2024 Prize to the work of youth literature Intruso by David Lozano is based on "the originality of the approach, the literary quality and the narrative agility." Also in the presentation of “a complex and transformative scenario, with a protagonist voice that connects with the potential reader, building a fictional world that challenges adolescents face to face, without condescension. Reading it does not leave you indifferent; It stirs and drags you to position yourself and share points of view. It provokes reflection and debate. It creates a fictional world from which you do not emerge unscathed.”

Once the event was over, the call for entries was open for the 47th edition of the SM El Barco de Vapor y Gran Angular Awards, whose winners will be known in 2025. These awards, worth 35,000 euros each, are the most relevant in the world in the field of children's and young people's literature in Spanish, which contributes to the reception of a large number of originals from all over Spain and several Latin American countries.

For more information:

Communication SM Spain

comunicacionsm@info.grupo-sm.com

Carmen Palomino - (34) 649 454 680

www.grupo-sm.com/es