Alberto Ramos receives the Repsol Short Story Award for Pirotecnia

Writer Alberto Ramos has received the Repsol Short Story Award in Galician for Pirotecnia. The award, presented in A Coruña, comes with €12,000 and the publication of his book by Editorial Galaxia.

The award ceremony took place at the Fundación Paideia Galiza and was presided by José López Campos, the Galician Minister of Culture, Language, and Youth; Mercedes Gómez Badiola, deputy director of Institutional Relations at the Repsol Foundation; and Xosé Manuel Soutullo, CEO of the Editorial Galaxia publishing house.

The ceremony was also attended by Galician singer and performer Rosa Cedrón, who gave a concert to the attendees.

About the winner

Alberto Ramos (Santiago de Compostela, 1986) graduated in Journalism from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 2009. He began his career in the culture section at the newspaper Xornal de Galicia. After the newspaper shut down, he continued his career as a collaborator with media outlets such as Praza.gal, Nós Diario, and Luzes, continuing his specialization in cultural initiatives. He currently works at the Galician Actors Association (AAAG).

He started out in the literary field in 2006 with Dolor fantasma (Biblos, 2006), with which he achieved the Biblos-Pazos Galicia novel award. In 2009, he won the La Voz de Galicia Serial Novel Award with Con acuse de recibo (Biblos, 2010). He has won the Vicente Risco literary creation award on two occasions: in 2012 with Todos los días (Sotelo Blanco, 2013) and in 2018 with La simetría de las bestias (Urco, 2018).

His novel Máscaras rotas para Sebastian Nell (Galaxia, 2014) earned him the García Barros Award in 2014. In 2022, he published Los cuerpos de los Romanov (Galaxia, 2022), which was awarded with the Repsol Short Story Award. In 2023, he achieved the Rafael Dieste theatrical texts award with the work, Conxo, en el restraint. Also in theater, he achieved the Abrente Award of the Ribadavia International Theater Exhibition in 2024 with the work Los servicios prestados.

18 editions supporting creation in Galician

The Repsol Short Story Award was created in 2006 by the Repsol Industrial Complex in A Coruña and organized jointly with the Secretary-General of Language for the Xunta de Galicia, with the aim of promoting Galician culture and language. In 2010, the Repsol Foundation took over this award that, from the outset, has had the support of the Royal Galician Academy and the Galician Language Writers Association.

Nearly 600 original pieces from Galician writers have competed for the award since its founding in 2006.