ARA Girona Awards Ceremony: The 25 Girona natives who have made their mark in 2025

GironaIn the emblematic Odeon Theatre of Girona, Recently restored and transformed into a grand cycling venue, the ARA Girona celebrated the launch of its first awards on Tuesday evening. Named afterThe 25 players from Girona who have scored in 2025These new awards aim to give visibility to relevant and interesting people and projects from the region, but little known to the general public. The award winners are not big names or the most illustrious figures from the Girona region, but rather a collection of stories and personalities that readers have discovered through news articles, reports, and interviews published in the newspaper over the past year. The event brought together more than 150 people, including authorities such as the mayor of Girona, Lluc Salellas; the president of the Provincial Council, Miquel Noguer; and the Minister of Territory, Housing, and Transport, Sílvia Paneque, as well as the director of ARA, Esther Vera.

The celebration began with a performance by the duo L'Arannà, comprised of Anna Sala and Laia Magrinyà (vocals and piano), in front of the restored frescoes on the first-floor balcony of the old theater. Esther Vera then highlighted the increase in content and readership for articles related to the Girona region: "In the last three years, we have tripled the number of indexed web visits to the Girona section. We have a newsletter "We're publishing a weekly newspaper, every Thursday, dedicated to Girona to keep you up-to-date with the news in the region, and for the past two years we've been celebrating the Diari dels Infants (Children's Daily) from Girona." Regarding the impact of the news published about the award winners, Mariona Ferrer i Fornells, ARA's delegate in Girona, added: "They've accumulated over 100,000 visits. The jury for the awards was made up of the readers themselves."

25 prize winners and a gift of a tile with a fox on it

The awards recognize 25 diverse stories, each briefly presented throughout the afternoon by the ARA Girona team of journalists: Mariona Ferrer, Aniol Costa-Pau, Gerard Bagué, Marta Costa-Pau, and Jordi Carreras. These stories include the heritage preservation efforts of Miquel Casals and Miquel Tràfach at the Odeon; the life story of writer Núria Esponellà; the generational shift in fishing led by Samuel Mir; the exemplary linguistic integration of Banyoles bookseller Shahzaib Khan; and the essential work of Radio Arrels in the northern Albera region. The newspaper also recognized technological projects such as that of Pau Ribas, creator of an AI assistant for people with diabetes; cultural initiatives like the Vallviva festival, spearheaded by Mireia Morera; and pioneering research such as that of physician Xavier Aldeguer, who investigates the gut microbiota associated with longevity.

Completing the list are diverse trajectories of activism, research, cultural management, gastronomic innovation, and social commitment that have been relevant over the past year: the legendary Nyigui-Nyogui shop and Rosa Maria Sais; the musical fusion of the group L'Arannà; Andreu Nin's championing of the young poet Josefina Espinosa; the Moul'Dhen tea room for Moroccan women; Nina Lannan and Lorraine Jarvis's commitment to the Catalan language; the former director of Bòlit, Ingrid Guardiola; Elena Carmona's innovative direction of the Municipal Theatre; the ILITIA collective for victims of stolen babies; the Girona Acull organization; the protest music group Remei de Ca la Fresca; the Mujeres Valientes network; the educational donation from tailor Antoni Rossell; the charitable work of the foster family of Àngels Cros and Agustí Gambarte; the work of perfumer Ernesto Collado; and the cultural dynamism of the Bar del Teatro in Salt with Pere Calderón. Girona FC player Joel Roca, and the gastronomic rise of the Voramar restaurant in Portbou, recently awarded its first Michelin star.

All the award winners received a ceramic award designed by the Bussoga workshop in Sant Jordi Desvalls, creators of screen-printed tiles depicting a clever fox escaping from the homogeneous crowd, carrying an ARA masthead in its mouth.