Portuguese and Mexican win Prize of Poetry António Salvado

The Portuguese Maria João Pessoa and the Mexican Gerardo Rodriguez were the winners of the International Prize of Poetry António Salvado – the City of Castelo Branco was announced today.

“In the end, we arrived, unanimously, with two poems that deserve it. “Emotions Out of Law ” by the Portuguese Maria João Pessoa and ‘Almanac Poems for Entertainment’ by Mexican Geerardo Rodriguez. is more than happy for the city of Castelo Branco, for Antonio Salvado and for the members of the jury, “said jury president Alfredo Alencart.

The first edition of the International Prize of Poetry António Salvado – City of Castelo Branco was launched on May 24, 2018, by the Câmara de Castelo Branco and the local parish board and was created in honour of the Castelo Branco poet, with more than 70 published titles.

Today, in the Hall Noble of the Paços do Concelho, the two winners and the respective poems were made known.

The president of the jury, the poet, essayist and professor of the University of Salamanca Alfredo Alencart, highlighted the success of this first edition that had more than 500 poems from around the world written in Portuguese and Spanish, one of the obligatory conditions of the Regulation.

“We had 500 poems for the first time, which indicates the size of the next editions,” he said.

By way of comparison, Alfredo Alencart explained that the Salamanca Prize, which already has 21 issues and a monetary prize of eight thousand euros, “appear in the contest 150“.

“We have two very beautiful creatures to the world of poetry,” he concluded.

Already the poet Antonio Salvado, visibly “moved and disturbed”, as he emphasized, left a question: “What can I say? Content? Of course, it is!”

After thanking the mentors of the international award and the jury, Antonio Salvado left the promise of tonight to begin the translation of Gerardo Rodriguez’s poem book into the Portuguese language.

“I’m going to translate the book of this Mexican that I do not know and who won a prize in my name,” he concluded.

The president of the parish council of Castelo Branco, Leopoldo Rodrigues, highlighted the participation achieved in the first edition of the prize, “with people from all over the world and from all continents.”

“When we launched the prize we did not think we had the success that the prize already is,” he said.

The mayor of Castelo Branco, Luís Correia, stressed that this initiative is in line with the cultural policy that the municipality has developed.

“Poetry represents a lot for Castelo Branco and it has a very strong presence,” he said. “We have a very great heritage in relation to poetry.

The mayor stressed that the prize also made it possible to strengthen the relationship between friendship and strengthen ties with Salamanca.

“It was an international award, which also allowed us to take the name of Castelo Branco around the world,” he concluded.

This initiative had the objective of rewarding unpublished poetic works and encouraging the appearance of new authors and the regulation dictated that two originals would be awarded, one in Portuguese and one in Spanish.

The winners will be awarded the prize money of 2,500 euros and will be offered 30 copies of the bilingual edition of the respective works and a plaque commemorating the prize.

The jury was constituted by 11 elements of recognized merit, being presided by the poet, essayist and professor of the University of Salamanca Alfredo Alencart.

Fernando Paulouro das Neves, Rita Duarte, Victor Mateus, Paulo Samuel, José Pires, Manuel Nunes, Maria Barata, António Pereira, António Franco and Enrique Móran completed the jury.