More than 2,000 students participate in the Marbella School Poetry Contest

The Marbella School Poetry Contest has once again broken all records this year. More than 2,000 students aged 6 to 11 participated with their poems in the fourth edition of this award, which the City Council organizes as part of the Marpoética festival. In front of a larger audience than ever, Mayor Ángeles Muñoz, accompanied by the General Director of Culture, Carmen Díaz, presented the awards to the winners this morning at a packed City Theater of Marbella brimming with enthusiasm. "Poetry in Marbella is more present than ever," the mayor noted, who, as every year, did not want to miss the meeting with these young creators. "Feel proud, encouraged to continue exploring. I give you a piece of advice: never stop writing, do not stop expressing your feelings, it will make you much better people, it will make you freer," the mayor encouraged the children present in the theater along with their teachers and families.

The contest, with two categories aimed at students from 1st to 3rd grade and, on the other hand, those from 4th to 6th grade, has this year included contributions from sixteen schools: Platero, Rafael Fernández-Mayoralas, Valdeolletas, Mario Vargas Llosa, Antonio Machado, Miguel de Cervantes, Hermanos Gil Muñiz, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Vicente Aleixandre, Monseñor Rodrigo Bocanegra, Francisco Echamendi, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Los Olivos, José Banús, Santa Teresa, and Xarblanca.

Student Martina Rando Godino won the first prize in the 1st to 3rd grade category with her poem 'Equality'. The second and third places were for Mía Rocío Zaczek and León Rodríguez Mesas, respectively. In the category for older students, from 4th to 6th grade, the winner was Martín Núñez Corona with his poem 'Music'. Youngsters Noa López Ortega and Valeria Santiago Sánchez received the second and third recognitions, respectively.

Along with the two usual categories, this year the Marbella School Poetry Contest has introduced a special distinction for the best group poem. On this first occasion, the 2nd grade B class from Platero School won this distinction with a heartfelt poem dedicated to a classmate titled 'Dear Soul Friend'. The jury, as in previous editions, was made up of teachers from the participating schools. They selected the winning texts that are now part of a book, among a total of 83 poems, edited by the City of Marbella.

Everything is ready for the grand finale

After filling various spaces of the city of Marbella with poetry for eight days, the eighth edition of the Marpoética festival will say goodbye tomorrow, Saturday, April 5, with poets Luz Pichel and María Salgado in a recital that will take place at 12:00 PM at the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Engraving.

Later in the evening, at 8:00 PM, the City Theater of Marbella will host the grand closing gala, which this year will feature one of the best voices of narrative journalism in Spanish, Argentine journalist Leila Guerriero. The popular chronicler and columnist, author of non-fiction books such as 'The Call', 'A Simple Story', or 'The Suicides at the End of the World', will discuss language and poetry with Marpoética's literary director, Javier Vicedo, two key elements for this journalist whose texts are always infused with the literary. The young flamenco artist María Terremoto will be in charge of closing this special gala.