The deadline for submitting manuscripts for the 2025 Literary Awards, organised by the Cerdanyola del Vallès Town Council and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), ended on 7 February.
The following is the composition of the jury for the current edition of the awards.
JURY OF THE XXXI PREMI DE NOVEL-LA ‘VALLDAURA-MEMORIAL PERE CALDERS’ OF 2025
Núria Balagué Mola (Barcelona, 1958) has a degree in Hispanic Philology and Italian Philology and a PhD in Documentation from the University of Barcelona. She has been assistant director of the Library Service of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Barcelona.
Joan Mañas López (Gualba, 1970) holds a degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and is the owner of the second-hand bookshop El Pergamí Vell. He has participated as a juror in several novel awards and is the author of the novel Arqueologia de l'amor, awarded the Just Casero de Girona Prize in 2006.
Arià Paco Abenoza (Igualada, 1993) holds a degree and master's degree in philosophy from the University of Barcelona. Since 2025, he also holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Arizona, where he has been an assistant professor for five years. He has published three novels: Mentir a les mosques (2020), Covarda, vella, tan salvatge (2022) and Teoria del joc (2025, Anagrama Novel Prize). He collaborates with various cultural media and podcasts.
Miquel Ribas (Barcelona, 1972). He has a degree in Cultural Anthropology and a master's degree in Audiovisual Scriptwriting. Professor of Social Sciences with extensive teaching experience, he has devoted his free time to writing various works of fiction for children, young people and adults. His two latest works are the historical novel Rei de Sicília, príncep de Sardenya and Ilha do Farol.
David Vidal Castell is a lecturer in the Department of Media, Communication and Culture at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), journalist and literary critic (ARA newspaper). Director and founder of the Master's Degree in Literary Journalism, Communication and Humanities at the UAB. Doctor in Communication (Alteritat i presència, 2002), the Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC) awarded him the prize for research in media and culture in 2005 for his essay El malson de Chandos and has received the Lleida Narrative Award (La fulla a punt de caure, 2007) and the Gaudí Award for the script of the film Petitet (2019).
JURY OF THE XXX PREMI DE POESIA ‘MIQUEL MARTÍ I POL’ OF 2025
Josep Gerona Fumàs (Sabadell, 1956) holds a degree in History and is a secondary school teacher in Sabadell. He currently combines his dedication to painting with writing in Catalan and Spanish. He is founder and member since 2001 of the group of poets from Sabadell Papers de Versàlia, a collective that works in different initiatives to promote and disseminate poetic creation. Their publications include: Mnemòsine amnèsica (2006), Quan deixaré de creure (2000), Àlbum de noses (2001), Trompar l'ull (2004), Hospital General (2007) i La vida original (2007).
Josep Domènech Ponsatí (Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 1966) is a poet and translator. As a poet he has published Cap a un dic sec (2004), Desdiments (2006), Apropiacions degudes & cia (2007), El Càcol (2015), Preqüela (2018), El coeficient de flotabilitat (2023) and Rotija (2024). In 2024 he was the joint winner of the XXIX Premi de Poesia ‘Miquel Martí i Pol’, organised by the UAB and the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès, with his work Eixint de fer. As a translator from Portuguese he has published works by Clarice Lispector, Graciliano Ramos, Lima Barreto, Armando Freitas Filho and Hilda Hilst, among others. He has twice won the ‘Giovanni Pontiero’ Translation Prize, and once the ‘Jordi Domènech’ Poetry Translation Prize.
Josep Antoni Aguilar Àvila (Xàtiva, País Valencià, 1979) is a lecturer in Catalan language and literature at the Universitat Catòlica de València ‘Sant Vicent Màrtir’. His research focuses on medieval Catalan chronicles: he has published a large number of articles and studies on Ramon Muntaner, Bernat Desclot and other historiographical texts from the 13th-14th centuries. His annotated edition of the Chronicle of Muntaner was awarded the ‘Ramon Aramon i Serra’ Prize of the LXXX Cartell de Premis Sant Jordi of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2011) and the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize of the Universitat de València (2012), and has been published in the ‘Biblioteca Filològica’ collection of the IEC (2015). On the literary side, he is the author of three collections of poems: Els rims de guerra d'Ezzelino da Romano (València: Denes, 2022), Quatre mots (Premi ‘Josep Grau i Colell’ 2023) and Ballar amb els espectres (XXIX Premi de Poesia ‘Miquel Martí i Pol’ 2024).
Juan Carlos Otero (Sabadell, 1968) is a secondary school language and literature teacher. He won the Jocs Florals de Cerdanyola del Vallès in 1991, 1992 and 1993. In subsequent years, he participated as a member of the jury for the same prize. His poetry publications include L'hàbil escomesa (Reus, 1991, runner-up for the Gabriel Ferrater Prize), La cort de les mudances (Algemessí, 1993), Dilapidàvem les hores felices (Terrassa, 1995, Calassanç Prize) and El buen veneno (Rubí, 2024). His forays into narrative are Terrores nocturnos y otras fábulas para jóvenes (Cerdanyola, 2005) and Quadern de la selva (Cerdanyola, 2008).
JURAT DEL XVII PREMI DE NARRATIVA BREU ‘CATERINA ALBERT’ DE 2025
Carmen Alcolea has a degree in Hispanic Philology (1996), a postgraduate degree in Foreign Language Teaching (1997) and a degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology (2013) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. For two decades, she has been teaching Secondary Education and Baccalaureate. She is the author of a novel.
Carla Clúa Alcón (Tarragona, 1996) is a journalist with a master's degree in International Relations - European Studies. She has worked in various Catalan written and audiovisual media, although she currently lives in Genoa (Italy), where she works in the environmental communication sector. He has received several literary prizes, among which the following stand out: Premis Literaris de Constantí (2024), Premi Bolleré (2023), Premi Alt Urgell de Joves Autors - Homilies d'Organyà (2023) i Relats de Dones de Tarragona (2023, 2022 i 2021). In 2024 he won the XV Premi de Narrativa Breu per a Joves ‘Caterina Albert’, organised by the UAB and the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès, with the work Pausa, sucre, Sevilla.
Martí Gironell i Gamero (Besalú, 1971), a Catalan journalist and novelist, holds a degree in Journalism from Pompeu Fabra University and in English Philology from the University of Barcelona. He has worked at Ràdio Besalú, Ràdio Olot, Catalunya Ràdio and TV3. He collaborates in the media such as El Punt Avui, La República and L'Illa dels Llibres. His books include El pont dels jueus (2007), which has been translated into several languages; La venjança del bandoler, which won the Nèstor Luján Historical Novel Prize in 2008, and La força d'un destí, winner of the Ramon Llull Prize in 2018.
Xusa Serra has a degree in Anthropology, a postgraduate degree in Thanatology and a master's degree in Nursing and Health Research. She is a nurse at the Unit of Support for Illness, Grief and End of Life at the General Hospital of Catalonia and is also a therapist at the Grief Group of the Association of Women for Equality of Cerdanyola del Vallès. She teaches the workshop ‘Ara sí que sé a les escoles’ and is the author of the book I, també em moriré?
Anna Pallejà Franquet (Tarragona, 2006). She has never stopped reading all kinds of books. What began as a secret diary has gradually become her great passion: writing. Nowadays, he combines literature, studies, music and family. Her work Tres missatges per oblidar-te, won the XIII Premio de Narrativa Breu per a Joves ‘Caterina Albert’, awarded by the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in 2022.
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