The jury of the 65th edition of the Iluro Prize, convened by the Iluro Foundation, has awarded the work From Mediterranean cabotage to the Carrera de Indias. Canet de Mar and Catalan maritime trade in the 18th century, the work of Ricard Cantano Carballo, Doctor in History from the Rovira i Virgili University and member of the Canetense Studies Center. Cantano's work allows us to know the protagonists of the commercial expeditions by sea during the 18th century, how they acted and what was their degree of intervention, differentiating the successive chronological stages of that period, highlighting the differences and singularities referred mainly to the contracts. of freight and crew.
Also recognized with a second prize is the work of Gonzalo Berger Mulattieri, Doctor in History from the University of Barcelona, which is titled La Malatesta: Maresme volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and which aims to make an approach to the experience and the motivations of the group of Maresme volunteers who formed the Malatesta column between August and December 1936.
Pere Carles, president of the Iluro Foundation, in charge of inaugurating the verdict proclamation ceremony, wanted to "highlight the commitment of the Iluro Foundation to the celebration of the award and also to local history." However, he emphasized the celebration of the one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the railway, an anniversary to which "the Iluro Foundation has joined with the exhibition 175 years since the arrival of the train to Mataró", given the relevance of the anniversary for the city of Mataró.
The jury of the 65th edition of the Premio Iluro has been chaired by Joaquim Nadal, Councilor for Research and Universities, and made up of Dr. Jaume Dantí Riu (University of Barcelona); Dr. Blanca Garí de Aguilera (University of Barcelona); Mr. Nicolau Guanyabens y Calvet (Archive Museum of Santa María de Mataró); the dr. Oriol Olesti Vila (Autonomous University of Barcelona); and Dr. Roser Salicrú i Lluch (Institution Milà and Fontanals de Investigación en Humanidades of the Superior Council of Scientific Research and Institut d'Estudis Catalans), representative of the Iluro Foundation, who acts as secretary of the jury.
The Iluro 2023 award was presented by Natàlia Garriga, Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, who was also in charge of presiding over the act of announcing the jury's verdict. The councilor took advantage of her intervention to highlight the Iluro Prize as "one of the most prestigious awards in the field of historical research in our country" of which she has recognized "the unquestionable rigor reaching, with this 65th edition, in the 90 publications." Garriga, at the end of the event, announced the agreement that has been reached between the Generalitat, the Iluro Foundation and the Maresme Regional Council, in which the Foundation transfers special documentary collections of the Maresme Regional Archive on loan to the Maresme Regional Archive. Iluro Foundation, which have a chronological scope that goes from the year 1353 to 2010. This agreement, which will be formalized in the coming weeks, "will involve the progressive digitization of the documentation and, therefore, free access to the consultation of the funds", just as the counselor has pointed out.
For his part, David Bote, mayor of Mataró, who was in charge of recognizing the runner-up of the Iluro 2023 Prize, took advantage of his intervention to “confirm the satisfaction of the celebration of the 65th edition and the good health of the Iluro Prize, thus “This means for the city of Mataró.”
When the verdict was made public, the president of the jury, Joaquim Nadal, Minister of Research and Universities, valued the quality of the works presented in the 65th edition and emphasized that “the year that has passed provides us with elements that make us think that “We should not fear for the future of the Iluro Prize.” He also wanted to highlight that it is "a prestigious award that goes beyond the territorial scope of Mataró and Maresme and is part of the recognition of the creative and positive relationship between local history and general history."
The event, held in the Espacio Escena y Pensamiento of the Ateneu Cultural Center of the Iluro Foundation, also featured the presentation of the two works awarded in the 64th edition (2022) of the Iluro Prize, History of the castle of Mataró and its feudal lords (1031-1419), by Xavier Alarcon y Campdepadrós (Premio Iluro 2022), and El santuario ibérico de la Cova de les Encantades del Montcabrer (Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona), by Ramon Coll Monteagudo (accessed to the Premio Iluro 2022).
