The Annual Iberoamerican Awards Ceremony

On February 17 the 15^th annual Iberoamerican awards were handed out in the Patriots Hall of Charles University. The student competition is organized by the representatives of diplomatic missions of Iberoamerican countries registered in the Czech Republic, under the auspices of the first lady Mrs. Livia Klausová.

Three students were awarded for oustanding research contributions. Lucie Hrušková received the top award, Tomáš Došek placed second (both study at the University of Economics, Prague), Ada Coneca from Charles University was third. The jury of representatives of embassies of Iberoamerican countries chose the best among the 26 texts focusing on the countries of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula written in Spanish or Portuguese. The winners received a monetary award of 1,000, 700 and 500 US dollars, respectively. Three more students (Dagmar Antošíková, Petr Gojda and Magdalena Tomanová, all from Charles University) received honorable mentions.

The award ceremony started with a speech by Václav Hampl, the Rector of Charles University, who thanked the concerned countries for their long-term dedication. Among the participants were representatives of embassies, the first lady Mrs. Klausová, representatives of government, ministry of foreign affairs, ministry of education and the Parliament, members of the Association of Latin American Students and Czech students of Spanish and Portuguese.

The Iberoamerican Award was introduced in 1994 as the only award of its kind in Europe. College and graduate school students of Czech nationality living in the Czech Republic can submit their original research works connected to Latin America or the Iberian Peninsula. Each year, the Iberoamerican countries take turns in organizing the event, this year it was up to the Embassy of Mexico in the Czech Republic.

Recipients of this year's Iberoamerican Award:

1^st place: Lucie Hrušková, student at the University of Economics, Prague for her work Contemporary Symbols of the Pantanal Region in Matto Grosso do Sul

2^nd place: Tomáš Došek, student at the University of Economics, Prague for his work Reelection of Presidents in Latin America – A Reason to Fear?

3^rd place: Lucie Hrušková, student at Charles University, for her work Azorean emmigration into South Brazil

Honorable mentions:

Magdalena Tomanová from the Charles University Faculty of Arts for her work Short Stories of Ramón Ribeyro

Petr Gojda, a student at the Charles University Faculty of Arts and the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, for his work Luces de Bohemia and Perspective in Modern Drama: A Short Essay on the Genre

Dagmar Antošíková from the Charles University Faculty of Arts for her work The Similarities and Differences between the Enlightenment Thinkers and Saint Ignatius of Loyola

For further information, contact:

The Embassy of Mexico

V Jirchářích 151/10

110 01 Praha 1

Phone: 00420 283 061 538