A few minutes before the World Cup semifinal between Spain and France, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofía presided this Tuesday, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, over the presentation of the 2026 Princess of Girona Awards. The host, the Princess, introduced each of the awardees during her speech and emphasized the importance of “cultivating, understanding, and caring for” talents, using the example of activist Hatim Azahri, the Social Award winner of this edition, for his “primary school teachers, who encouraged him to continue studying.” “Protect young talent with support when it is needed,” concluded the princess. This edition recognized six young people with outstanding careers in entrepreneurship, research, social fields, and culture. Among the winners are biotechnologist Patricia Aymà, CreaEmpresa award; filmmaker Gemma Blasco, Art award; and researcher Rafael Luque, Research award. The international awards went to Argentine businesswoman Mercedes Bidart and researcher José Eduardo Méndez. After the gala, a giant screen was installed at the Maritime Museum to welcome guests for the Spain vs. France match.
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The gala celebrated the talent of six young people whose careers have “turned their ideas into actions with social impact.” The event highlighted the importance of the “shared movement,” understood as the set of individual initiatives capable of generating collective progress. King Felipe VI, who delivered part of his speech in Catalan, congratulated the awardees and highlighted the ability of their projects to “transform realities.” He also reaffirmed Princess Leonor’s “commitment” to the Foundation that bears her name. The princess, for her part, highlighted points from each awardee’s biography, their “favorite influencers,” whom she acknowledges “admiring.” She added, “my influencers are not famous, they are natural intelligences.”
The Royal Family’s day in Barcelona began in the morning with the Young Talent Forum, organized by the Princess of Girona Foundation at ESADE Barcelona, where about a hundred young people participated in meetings with more than 40 companies from the foundation’s board. Before the ceremony, the King and Queens greeted the board members and the 2026 awardees.
The awarded young talents
In the Social category, Hatim Azahri was recognized for the project he founded in Barcelona, Joves Units del Poble-sec. The young man launched in 2019 a community foundation aimed at building and reactivating abandoned public sports spaces and transforming them into common infrastructures serving the neighborhood. The activist arrived at age two with his mother from Morocco and has built his entire life in Poble-sec. Princess Leonor highlighted in her speech the importance of Hatim’s teachers who “saw his potential and not his origin.” By the end of this year, the project he coordinates aims to activate a new municipal sports center in the space occupied by Pavilion 2 of Fira de Barcelona.
Patricia Aymà, biotechnologist and co-founder of Benviro, was recognized in the CreaEmpresa Award category for the company created in 2018 to develop bacterially derived and biodegradable bioplastics, intended to replace conventional plastic, “good plastic made from organic waste,” commented the gala host. Catalan director and screenwriter Gemma Blasco received the Princess of Girona Art Award for her “social and ethically minded cinema” that addresses violence, gender, and inequalities from the traumatic personal experience of the rape she suffered at 18 years old.
Also honored was Cordoban astrophysicist Rafael Luque in the Research category for his studies on exoplanets and the search for potentially habitable worlds. “I listen to them carefully to see if I can learn,” joked the princess. The international awards went to Argentine businesswoman Mercedes Bidart for promoting financial inclusion of small merchants, and to researcher José Eduardo Méndez for his contributions to the knowledge of nebulae and galaxy evolution.
The Royal Family’s agenda in Catalonia will continue this Wednesday with a visit to the ruins of Empúries (Girona), where they will spend a day with young participants in the Princess of Girona Foundation’s programs and with members of the awardee community.
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