Hay Festival shares €50,000 Asturias Prize with Guadalajara Book Fair

Hay Festival and Mexico's Guadalajara Book Fair have been jointly awarded the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for communication and humanities.

The judging panel awarded the €50,000 prize jointly for the events, which they said "represented the most important meeting points worldwide for books, writers, readers and culture".

The prize comes a week after the Hay Festival Digital, which saw almost half a million viewers tune into the virtual events.

In addition to the €25,000 each, the directors behind the events will receive a Joan Miro sculpture, a diploma and the Princess of Asturias insignia.

In a joint statement, the directors of the Hay Festival said: “It is an extraordinary honour to receive the Premio Princesa de Asturias. It’s humbling to be considered alongside the other laureates and we are delighted to share this honour in Communication and Humanities with our friends at the beloved Guadalajara International Book Fair.

"From Hay-on-Wye in the mountains of Wales to the great cities of Segovia in Spain, Cartagena de Indias and Medellín in Colombia, Arequipa in Peru and Querétaro in Mexico, and to the global sphere of our digital projects, Hay Festival celebrates and brings writers and readers together to imagine the world. It has never seemed more important to try to understand our crises and our opportunities, to find new ways of connecting people, and to foster a sense of renewal and hope. To the jury and the Prize, and all our colleagues and partners and readers and festival-makers around the world over these 33 years, we say—thank you.”

Spanish non-profit The Princess of Asturias Foundation oversees the annual awards, which aim to recognise and "contribute to extolling and promoting scientifc, cultural and humanistic values".