The jury of the VI edition of the International Poetry Prize Francisco Brines Foundation met in València to decide the winning works of a competition that, in addition to honoring the poet from Oliva, grows year after year and is consolidating itself as a leading poetic call.

After receiving 1,677 original submissions, the prize in the Spanish language category went to En la noche mediante, by Juan Antonio Bernier Blanco. Bernier is a professor and poet. Throughout his career, he has written La costa de los sueños, Así procede el pájaro—for which he won the El Ojo Crítico de Poesía Prize (2005)—and Futuro previo, which received the I Ciudad de Estepona Poetry Prize.

In Valencian, Joan Carles González Pujalte won in the poetry category with Zones privades. Pujalte holds a degree in Art History and has been awarded in various literary contests—both poetry and narrative. During his career, he has published nearly twenty books, including Les coses i els miratges, Esbós, teoria i poètica de la nou, and L’est, for which he received the Joan Perucho Vila d’Ascó Poetry Prize (2016).

The juries highlighted the exceptional quality of the awarded works, as well as the solid literary careers of the two authors, which enrich the current poetic landscape.

The Francisco Brines Foundation congratulated the awarded authors and thanked all those who submitted their poems. They also emphasized that the response received confirms the vitality of poetry and the projection of a prize that Francisco Brines conceived as a meeting space for poetic creation in both Valencian and Spanish.

The winning books will be presented soon.