Calpe Town Council wants to reward emerging talent from Calpe who have excelled in the fields of sport and culture. For this reason, the plenary session has given initial approval to the regulations for these awards, which will be presented at the Calpe Sports and Culture Gala to be held in September.
These are cash prizes, with a maximum of five awards in each field, each worth 1,000 euros. The awards will go to individuals who have excelled in various disciplines. Specifically, in sport, the awards will recognise the most outstanding player in the youth category, the most outstanding player in the senior category (i.e. athletes over the age of 18 during the corresponding season or year) and the most outstanding player with other abilities. In culture, the awards will go to those who excel in the performing arts, musical creation and dance, in the plastic arts and design - painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video art, cinema, etc. - and literary arts.
The spokesperson for the government team and Councillor for Sports, Ximo Perles, pointed out that these awards were created to recognise the effort and merits of emerging local athletes and artists, not those who already have an established career. ‘It is for athletes who do not belong to any club or local sports schools because they are minority sports such as karting, motor racing, inline skating... who do not receive any kind of support,’ he said, adding that very broad guidelines have been drawn up so that the jury, which will make the final decision on the awards, ‘has a very wide margin of discretion’.
These awards are aimed at people registered as residents in Calpe and nominations can be submitted in two ways: through local sports clubs or cultural associations, or by the athletes or artists themselves if they are not affiliated with any club or association.
The proposal was approved by the governing team (Somos Calpe, PSOE and Compromís) and Defendamos Calpe, with the PP abstaining.
Defendamos Calpe councillor Toni Tur said: ‘We like the approach of the proposal, which takes minority sports into account. It's great not to leave anyone behind.’ ‘We want the effort, dedication and adversity that athletes have to overcome to be taken into account, rather than just competitive success.’
For his part, the spokesperson for the Popular Party, Miguel Crespo, described the guidelines as ‘hasty’ and criticised the ‘financial reward system as being in need of improvement’. ‘The committee that will assess the merits of each applicant will have to assess and compare which discipline is more relevant, whether winning a regional inline skating, swimming or triathlon championship is more relevant, which has more weight within the same category and even between different categories; it is difficult to quantify this for the people who have to make the assessments.’ He suggested that the best way to promote sport and culture was to award grants.
The spokesperson for the socialist group, Guillermo Sendra, stressed that this was a ‘very important’ step forward in the promotion of sport and culture and pointed out that the jury would include representatives from each political group. He criticised the popular municipal group for not having implemented an initiative of this kind during its years in government.
The Councillor for Sports, Ximo Tur, pointed out that the scholarship system is highly regulated and that a model very similar to that of the Alicante Provincial Council has been chosen. ‘How can we compare a darts champion with a chess champion or a motorcycling champion? They are so different, which is why we opted for a jury and very broad criteria’.
The spokesperson for Somos Calpe, Juan Manuel del Pino, emphasised that these awards will mark ‘a turning point’ and ‘allow many children, young people and those who are not so young to be recognised and, in addition, receive financial support’. ‘It is a way of showing them that their efforts and art are worthwhile’.