PETROPERU awarded the winners of the XIX Story Biennial and the V Essay Biennial “2016 Copé Award”

• Diego Trelles Paz and Santiago Merino Acevedo word the winners of the 2016 Copé Oro Award for Essay and Story, respectively.
• María Lourdes Torres Saric and Miguel Ángel Torres Vitolas were the recipients of the Copé Plata Award and the Copé Bronce Award for Story, respectively.

In an emotional ceremony, the attendance of the President of the Board of PETROPERU, Luis Eduardo García Rosell, and the representatives of the Evaluating Jury, the 2016 Copé Awards were presented, the most important literary award of the country, organized by PETROPERU. The event took place on December 6 in the Auditorium of the company.

The writer Diego Trelles Paz was the recipient of the Copé Oro Award of the V Essay Biennial, and the 45 thousand Nuevos Soles prize, with the work “Detectives lost in the dark city. Alternative police novel in Latin America. From Borges to Bolaños”, while the story “The Marilyn painting”, by Santiago Merino Acevedo, was the winner of the Copé Oro Award of the XIX Story Biennial, with a prize of 35 thousand Soles.

In the same manner the Copé Plata  Award for this category went to the story “Santeros”, by María Lourdes Torres Saric, while the work “This little light on the window” by Miguel Ángel Torres Vitolas, took the Copé Bronce Award for this category. Both winners received prices of 25 thousand and 15 thousand Soles, respectively.

During his participation, the President of PETROPERU, Mr. Luis Eduardo García Rosell, expressed that the awarding of the Copé Award is a clear evidence of the contribution of the company to the development of the country. “The impulse to science and technology allows us to develop companies, but that has to go hand-in-hand with our social actions. There lies the importance of our cultural proposal, led by the Copé Award”, he indicated.

In the same manner, he highlighted the trajectory of the Copé Award in the national literary environment. “This award has managed to become iconic, and it is a creative and cultural platform of vital importance for Peruvian creators”, indicated the official.

The Evaluating Jury of the XIX Story Biennial selected as winner of the Copé Oro that work “The Marilyn painting” because “by being written with intensity and affection found in a true friendship, the winning story recovers in a dramatic manner the final days of a well-known Peruvian painter. Technically efficient, the story allows us to enter the intimacy of the characters and explore situations related to artistic creation and the difficult condition of the creator”.

On this topic, its author manifested during his intervention the ceremony that this work “is the testimony of endearment and friendship towards a great man, and shows the struggle of a person, not to survive but to be able to remain in the memory of those around him”.

Santiago Merino Acevedo is a narrator and poet. He is a founder of the group “Continente” and of the Writers Front of La Libertad. In 1974 he received an honorific mention for a story in the competition by Casa de las Americas (Cuba). In 1992 the Collection in Honor of the Centenary César Vallejo published his book of poems “Three-headed” and in Milla Batres published his novel “The other eyes of the Sea”.

On the other hand, the Evaluating Jury of the V Essay Biennial awarded prize to“Detectives lost in the dark city. Alternative police novel in Latin America. From Borges to Bolaños” for “approaching the peculiar way in which Latin American literary creation appropriates a genre born of English tradition and transforms it”. On the work, the jury indicates: “it establishes a singular relationship with social context, favoring the active participation of the reader, to the point of transforming him in a true detective”.

On this distinction, Diego Trelles, communicating from friends, gave his thanks for the award and qualified the Copé Award as “a blessing for all Peruvian creators and researchers, because it’s existence and the work of PETROPERU allow them to continue working on literary creations”.

Diego Trelles Paz is a writer. He has published the novels “The circle of the killer writers” and “Bioy”, this last one the winner of the 2012 Francisco Casavella Award. He has been a finalist of the Rómulo Gallegos Award (2013) and the Herralde Award (2016).

The V Essay Biennial and the XIX Story Biennial “2016 Copé Award” became open to submissions in January 2016 and closed it on August 12 of the same year. 59 works participated in the V Essay Biennial and 1428 stories in the XIX Story Biennial.

According to the rules and conditions of the contest, the winning essay and the book that will serve as an anthology of the winning stories, honorific mentions and finalists will be published. The winners will receive, in addition to the cash prize, the Copé Trophy and a Diploma. In the case of honorific mentions and finalists they also received the Copé Trophy and a Diploma.

In this edition of the 2016 Copé Award, the Jury of the XIX Story Biennial was made up by Guillermo Niño de Guzmán (Ministry of Culture), Harry Belevan-McBride (Peruvian Language Academy), Jorge Valenzuela (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos), Giovanna Pollarolo (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru) and Pedro Cateriano Delgado (PETROPERU).

The Jury of the V Essay Biennial was made up by Patricia Ruiz Bravo (Ministry of Culture), Salomón Lerner Febres ((Peruvian Language Academy), Marco Martos, (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos), Alexandra Hibbett (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru) and Ricardo González Vigil (PETROPERU).