Talking of the Civic Centre, here’s one that I missed during December, and that was the Friends of La Herradura Poetry Competition.
According to reports, the centre was full for this annual event, and the first prize of €1,200 went to Jaime Elso Navarro Torralba, with a poem entitled The Miracle of your Ward, which was described by the judging panel as a “great poem, with a philosophical base.”
Being culturally bereft, I am probably not best placed to opine on the literary prowess of a proper writer… but I think the piece is trying to convey his feelings about a subject, but by looking at it objectively, not from the position of the beholder, more a dissolution of time and being.
Professor Tomas Hernandez headed the jury this year, and he awarded the first prize, saying that the piece had won because it was an objective account, well constructed and presented.
There was also a section for local and/or budding poets, and the local first prize of €300 was won by Roman Gil de Montes, with a poem called Give us your Word. The second local prize went to Rafael Ruiz Barbero, with a poem entitled The Moon and I.
The competition was presented by Paulino Alvarez, and was in three parts, the first being a presentation during which the choir performed Bahia de La Herradura. During the second part details of the participants and awards was read out and then the awards were presented by Maria Victoria Ruiz.
It must have been good, because when the awards had been handed out, the poets themselves gave recitals of their work, which was received with a standing ovation from the packed auditorium.
So, if your Spanish is up to it, why not pen something for next year’s event, the only criteria being that the piece must be a minimum of 14 lines and a maximum of 100.