Benidorm brings back 'El Gos i la Tortuga' Literary Prize to support talent and creativity in Valencian language

Benidorm City Council, through the Departments of Culture and Historical and Cultural Heritage, will reinstate the Valencian language Short Story Literary Prize "El Gos i la Tortuga" in 2025, an initiative focused on promoting culture, literary talent, and the Valencian language. Councillors Jaime Jesús Pérez and Ana Pellicer explained that the Local Government Board approved the rules for this competition yesterday. The competition will be held again to coincide with the 700th anniversary of Benidorm's founding. Six prizes worth a total of 1,200 euros will be awarded.

The ‘El Gos i la Tortuga’ Literary Prize was first held in 1982 and has been held fifteen times, the last being in 1999. “This is a competition that enjoyed a considerable following in its time and is named after a landmark that is very emblematic and beloved by the people of Benidorm, and which also has its own story,” said Ana Pellicer, who also added that “this is why we think it would be a good idea to revive it for this ‘700th Anniversary.’”

The approved rules for this new competition include certain changes compared to the prize held several decades ago, limiting the scope of participation to the Benidorm population, both registered residents and students. Thus, anyone over the age of 14 who attends any school in the city of Benidorm or who is registered in Benidorm and attends a school in another city may apply, the head of Historical and Cultural Heritage explained.

For his part, the Councillor for Culture elaborated on the rules of this Literary Award, which establishes two categories: one for young people, for participants aged 14 to 17, inclusive; and one for adults, to which works may be submitted by people aged 18 and over. Jaime Jesús Pérez pointed out that, in both cases, there will be three prizes valued at 300, 200, and 100 euros, respectively, in addition to a Special Prize awarded by the jury to a work whose narrative discourse is about the history of Benidorm.

Likewise, Benidorm City Council will publish a 200-copy edition of the award-winning works, which will allow "beyond the cash prize, the winners in each category will have the opportunity to see their stories published," the councillor explained.

Requirements to participate

In addition to the aforementioned requirements, the rules for the "El Gos i la Tortuga" literary award establish that each participant may submit one work to this competition. The work must be original and unpublished, written in Valencian, and have a minimum length of 10 A4 pages and a maximum of 25 pages on one side, double-spaced, and Times New Roman font size 12.

The deadline for submitting works will begin upon publication of the rules in the Official Provincial Gazette and on the Municipal Notice Board and will end on September 19th, at 11:59 p.m. Submissions must be made by certified mail addressed to the Municipal Public Library, located at Plaza de SS MM los Reyes de España, number 3, Benidorm.

Each work must have two envelopes, A and B, with the motto written on the outside. Envelope A will contain three copies of the original work, which may not be signed; Envelope B will contain the contestant's identification document, including a photocopy of their National Identity Document (DNI), Foreigner Identification Number (NIE), or passport, as well as their personal information (address, telephone number, and email address); a declaration of responsibility from the creator according to Annex 1 of the rules; and the authorization signed by the parent/legal guardian in the case of a minor, according to Annex 2 of the rules.

The jury will be composed of five people and chaired by the mayor or the councillors designated by him/her. A technician from the Benidorm Library Network will act as secretary and, like the president of the jury, will have a voice but no vote. The other three members of the jury will be individuals who have been recognised with the "Distinguished City of Benidorm" award, whose names will be published on the Transparency Portal.

The jury will score on a scale of 1 to 10 based on the following evaluation criteria: creativity and originality, narrative coherence, and literary quality and style of the work.

The Councillors for Culture and Historical and Cultural Heritage stated that this initiative is "a great reason for young and old literature fans in our city to submit their short stories, coinciding with such a special year as Benidorm's 700th Anniversary," and they encouraged the public to participate.