A sound artistic duo, a writer, a publishing house, a stage director, a musician, an actor, and a playwright are the winners of the 2026 National Culture Awards, the accolades that have been presented since 2009 by the National Council for Culture and the Arts (CoNCA). The winners are Cabosanroque, Pol Guasch, Jande Editorial, Àlex Ollé, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Oriol Pla, and Victoria Szpunberg, as announced this Friday at an event held at the Pau Casals Auditorium in El Vendrell, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Pau Casals. The ceremony was hosted by journalist Andrea Gumes and was attended by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar, and the President of the CoNCA, Margarida Troguet. Each award comes with a prize of 20,000 euros, and starting this year, there are no longer five winners, but seven. In their acceptance speeches, the winners agreed on championing culture, collective values, and public services as tools to confront reactionary forces.

Awards always catch Oriol Pla working. This Wednesday at noon, while he was at the San Sebastián Festival presenting the film Esta soledad, by Javier Giner (Yo, adicto), the actor received a call from the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, to tell him that he has been awarded the National Theater Prize, which is granted by the Ministry of Culture and is endowed with 30,000 euros.

The last time we saw Oriol Pla Solina (Barcelona, ​​1993) he was receiving, wearing a blazer and looking radiant, the International Emmy for best actor for the series I, addictTwo weeks later, he appeared dressed in civilian clothes at the Casa Orlandai in Sarrià, friendly and talkative. This was the site of the Orlandai School, where he attended primary school. Later, neighborhood organizations and artists like his mother campaigned to have it converted into a community center; he even premiered his first original performance there. God isAfter the whirlwind, Oriol Pla is back in the theater: he's performing across Europe with Cliff, by Baró de Evel (this Christmas, at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan), for Catalonia with Throat and next year in Madrid and throughout the country with the now legendary Travy

Good news should be celebrated, and that's why we begin by mentioning that early this morning we witnessed a double historical milestone for Catalan audiovisualOriol Pla has been crowned in New York with the International Emmy for Best Actor for his role in I, addict (Disney+). And the other Catalan award of the night went to the director from La Ràpita, Joanna Pardos. She won the Emmy for best sports documentary for #It'sOver: diary of the champions (Netflix), which collects the testimonies of the female soccer players regarding the Luis Rubiales scandal at the 2023 World Cup.

A double milestone for Catalan audiovisual production. Oriol Pla has been crowned in New York with the International Emmy for Best Actor for his extraordinary role in I, addict (Disney+). He is the first actor from the state to be nominated for and win this prestigious award from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which recognizes outstanding television productions made outside the United States. The ceremony was held this Monday (early this morning) in New York.