The jury of the first edition of the Biodiversity Foundation Awards is currently working on the evaluation of the 1,567 candidatures submitted to the competition. This jury – made up of prominent personalities from the environmental, art, communication and culture sectors of Spain – deliberates on the best initiatives of professionals in the rural and fishing fields, as well as on the most representative works of communicators and creators.

The Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, announced the first edition of the Biodiversity Foundation Awards, endowed with a total amount of 100,000 euros, with the intention of recognizing the work of all those people and organizations that, with their work, contribute to the sustainable development of the rural and fishing environment. as well as the conservation and knowledge of natural heritage and biodiversity.

The call has had an excellent impact: in the most innovative modality of this edition, such as Leadership and Innovation, 111 applications have been submitted to the competition (23 in the category of Entrepreneurs; 20 in the category of Women in the Rural and Fisheries Environment and 68 in the category of Innovation in action).

Organic agriculture, fishing and livestock, as well as activities linked to ecotourism, are the preferred topics among entrepreneurial projects aimed at generating wealth and sustainable employment in rural areas. They are followed by initiatives to recover and enhance protected areas, environmental education and information and the marketing of new ecological products, such as cosmetics or bioplastics.

For its part, within the Communication and Creation modality, the category with the highest participation has been Photography, with 311 photographers having submitted a total of 1,281 works. Meanwhile, 89 works have arrived to qualify for the award in the category of Literary Creation. Finally, 42 reports from the written press and online media, radio and television were presented, and there are 44 nominations in the category of Documentaries and Short Films.

In this modality, a wide diversity of content should be highlighted. Some works illustrate the natural wealth of territories in Spain, while others echo the efforts of people who are opening up sustainable development alternatives in rural areas, also showing environmental actions developed in other countries in the field of international cooperation. There is no shortage of literary works that portray life in rural areas through narratives and short stories, or futuristic fictions of a dramatic nature.

The jury will decide on the Biodiversity Foundation Awards during the month of September and the awards ceremony will be held on October 15 at the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs.