Neurologist and entrepreneur Ignacio Hernández Medrano (Business), theatre director Rafael Rodríguez Villalobos (Arts and Literature), social worker Begoña Arana (Social), mathematician Xavier Ros-Oton (Scientific Research) andt he cofounder and CEO of Humanity Crew Maria Jammal are the young people honoured by the Princess of Girona Foundation this year.
For another year running, the Princess of Girona Foundation has visited different cities around the country during the first quarter of the year to announce the winners of its annual Awards in the categories of Scientific Research, Business, Social and Arts and Literature. InJune it will reveal the name of the winner in the International category which, coinciding with the Princess of Girona Foundation’s 10th anniversary, has been created new for this year to recognise the personal and professional efforts of young people anywhere in the world who stand out for their work, their merits and their exemplarity.
The first of the winners was revealed on 6 February in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. More than 500 people, most of them young, attended the announcement event that was held in this city to hear that neurologist and entrepreneur Ignacio Hernández Medrano had won the 2019 FPdGi Business Award. The winner was chosen for “democratising access to medical-scientific information on millions of patients by using artificial intelligence”.
Two weeks later in Seville the winner of the Arts and Literature category was announced as theatre director Rafael Rodríguez Villalobos, chosen for “his ability to create deeply appealing visual universes and for his vision of opera as a tool for social construction”.
Cáceres was the third stop on the winner announcement tour. In this city in Extremadura social worker Begoña Arana Álvarez was named as the winner of the 2019 FPdGi Social Award for “her commitment to improving the situation around her”. Arana, who runs Nuevo Hogar Betania in Cádiz, a non-profit association that helps people with limited resources, was delighted by this recognition because, she said, it would help her to “continue fighting for a much fairer society”. On 27 March, Santiago de Compostela hosted the announcement of the 2019 FPdGi Scientific Research Award, which went to mathematician Xavier Ros-Oton for being one of the most brilliant mathematicians with the greatest global impact in his age range.
Finally on 7 June, a jury of international experts announced that lawyer and psychologist Maria Jammal has won the 2019 FPdGi International Award for “her excellent work as cofounder and CEO of Humanity Crew, an outstanding organisation that both highlights and creates solutions for the mental health problems suffered by refugees.
In 2019 the Princess of Girona Foundation is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an extraordinary series of activities that begin with this tour and continue on until November, when there will be a large event in Barcelona. This event, attended by all the award winners, and which includes the award ceremony, will, as always, be focused primarily on young people.
