The Madrid City Council has today celebrated the award ceremony of the 2025 School Contests, which in its XXXII edition, have promoted artistic expression among more than 1,500 young people from 106 Primary, Secondary, High School, and Vocational Training centers in the city. The delegate for Social Policies, Family, and Equality, José Fernández, highlighted that «educating is not only about teaching subjects, but about teaching to think, to express, and to coexist,» and emphasized the value of the Council’s commitment to «an education that goes beyond the classrooms to enter real life.»
Paraphrasing a participating teacher in the call, Fernández emphasized that the School Contests «teach in an affective and effective way, touching the mind and the heart. All of this is part of a firm commitment to culture, because culture makes us free, and the City Council will continue working to promote vocations, equalize opportunities, and bring art, words, and thoughts to all corners of the city.
The 2025 call included contests in the disciplines of visual arts, with a total of 71 works presented; literary creation, divided into poetry and prose, with 87 works, and theater, with 43 works. In addition, 120 students participated in the Intermunicipal Debate Tournament. At the award ceremony, attended by several district councilors, several of the winning works in each discipline were performed.
More than 40,000 euros in prizes were awarded this year. As in previous years, two participation categories were established: one for Primary Education students and another that includes Secondary, High School, Basic Vocational Training, and Intermediate Vocational Training students. In each of them, awards were granted to the three most outstanding creations, as well as a special mention. Furthermore, in the theater category, a distinction was awarded to the best directors. In total, a sum of 40,000 euros was distributed in prizes.
The School Contests began in the 1993-1994 school year under the umbrella of the municipal program ‘Madrid, an open book,’ which, by then, had already completed a decade of activity and this year celebrates its 40th anniversary. Since its inception, this project supports education through complementary activities that take place during school hours and generate pedagogical renewal, as is the case with the contests. Thanks to this initiative, the City Council finances artistic activities, outdoor and nature activities, environmental education, sports, health, historical tours, city tours, and entrance tickets to major museums, among other initiatives.
FUENTE
