Por Redaccion 
The renowned poetry contest incorporates a short story category for local works and solidifies its position among the most important literary competitions in our country. The jury’s decision will be announced on July 19 at the Palacio de Beniel.
The deadline for submissions is now open to interested parties and will end on June 7. The guidelines can be found on the Vélez-Málaga City Council website and on the social media channels of the Department of Culture. The cash prize for the national winner is €3,000, with an additional €600 for the local runner-up and the local short story category.
The Municipal Delegation reaffirms its commitment to our creators in an event that aims to bring to light more than 250 poetry books, a number similar to that of 2024. The winner will have their work published by a prestigious national publisher.
Mentioning Joaquín Lobato is to refer to one of the literary, artistic, and cultural references of our land who has taken the name of Vélez-Málaga beyond our borders. His multifaceted career elevated him as one of the versatile creators who excelled in almost every field, with a particular emphasis on poetry. This prominent local figure also made forays into various fields such as theater, literary research, painting, and drawing, focusing mainly on the art of the poster.
The acknowledgment of our most outstanding authors is part of the action plan of the Department of Culture and Heritage of the Vélez-Málaga City Council, which has promoted "a strategy that aims to highlight the trajectory and work of all those artists who represent our land, who are, after all, the champions of the municipality beyond our environment, taking our name and everything we can boast of to different national and international corners," emphasized Alicia Ramírez, councilor of the Area.
The councilor of Culture and Heritage has presented this morning one of those initiatives that are part of the enhancement of the wide array of authors that form part of the Vélez-Málaga’s cultural landscape. On this occasion, the focus is on Joaquín Lobato, one of our great cultural references who gives his name to a renowned national and international literary contest, now in its thirty-eighth edition as a meeting point for leading literati from around the world. This competition aims to promote the town and its Honorary Son.
The XXXVIII Joaquín Lobato Literary Contest City of Vélez-Málaga has gained "great prestige and recognition in the circuit of literary contests in Spain, partly achieved through the innovations introduced in the last edition," Ramirez revealed. This includes adding the name "City of Vélez-Málaga" alongside the magnificent local author’s name and increasing the prize for the winner to €1,000. "In addition to the tribute we pay to Joaquín, the name of Vélez-Málaga also deserves to travel, hand in hand, across the national and international stage, making our city known through culture," emphasized the municipal delegate. Regarding the increased prize amount, "this means that our contest enters the category of national and international contests with a substantial financial award."
From the Department of Culture and Heritage, with these attached proposals, the commitment to extol our writers and artists is reaffirmed, which will result in the winning poetry book being published by a prestigious publisher, available in major bookstores in Spain and worldwide. In previous editions, the winner was only featured in the municipality’s book. The Granada-based publisher El Envés published the winning poetry book from the previous edition, by José María Higuera, titled "Apples." This work will be presented on Friday, May 9, at the opening of our Book Fair, with the author in attendance in the Plenary Hall from 8:00 p.m.
Bases and Categories
Alongside the impressive national competition, a contest exclusively for writers from the Axarquía region is repeated this year, following the success of the past edition. There is also a runner-up award for the local poet. It is worth noting that the previous event saw "a participation increase well above our expectations," the councilor of the Area expressed, as "we went from around 80 entries to over 250 poetry books from different locations in Spain and Latin America."
To participate in the literary contest, the guidelines can be found on the Vélez-Málaga City Council website and on the social media channels of the Department of Culture. The submission of poetry books and stories began on April 7 and will continue until June 7. The national prize has a cash award of €3,000, with an additional €600 for the runner-up and the local short story prize. The jury’s decision will be announced on July 19 at the Palacio del Marqués de Beniel.