The jury has chosen this work "for knowing how to perform the chronicle of a social drama with a narrative in which the emotion, graphic excellence and the use of powerful visual metaphors are balanced."
For the realization of the award-winning graphic novel, whose first edition is from 2018, the authors have been based on Laura Ballester's research, reflected in the book Fighting against oblivion, the long road for the victims of the Valencia metro (2015) . On day 3, as a project, he won the 2016 Ciutat de Palma de Còmic Premi.
The prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, is endowed with 20,000 euros and aims to distinguish the best work of this specialty published in any of the languages of the State during the year 2018.
Biography of the authors
Cristina Durán Costell (Valencia, 1970) has a degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Valencia and was an Erasmus scholarship at Middlesex University in London. In his university time he was part of the Crane Team, creator of the No Aparcar Llamo GRUA fanzine. It is part of AC (Comic Book Collective). Since 1993 he has been professionally dedicated to illustration and comic in his studio, LaGRUAestudio, which he shares with Giner Bou.
He has illustrated numerous children's stories and as a comic book artist he has published, together with the screenwriter Giner Bou, One possibility among a thousand (2009), Efrén's machine (2012), compiled in an integral volume under the title One possibility (2017), Y When you don't know what to say (2015). Also other titles like Caught by you (2011) Y The Valencian Golden Age (2014). He has participated in collective albums Swarm (2014) Y Life Bullets with Oxfam Intermón (2014), and published short stories in You are here, Arròs negre and Comic 21.
He has received several awards and nominations, including the Turia prize, the Flash Back, the Silver Badge of Culture of the City Council of Benetússer, the Premi Dones Progressistes or the second prize in France in the first Les BDs qui font la différence trophy.
Miguel Ángel Giner Bou (Benetússer, Valencia, 1969) has a degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts of San Carlos de Valencia (UPV) in the specialty of Drawing and obtained a collaboration grant in the subject of Space Representation Systems. He teaches the master's degree in Design and Illustration at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Valencia (UPV) and ESAT (Higher School of Art and Technology). He is president of the Professional Association of Illustrators of Valencia (APIV). In 1993, together with Cristina Durán, she created her own studio, LaGRUAestudio, where she has worked as a screenwriter and illustrator since then.
He is the author, along with Cristina Durán, of the aforementioned novels and graphic stories. He has also received, along with Durán, the aforementioned awards and nominations.
Laura Ballester Beneyto, a graduate in Information Sciences, has since 2006 made an exhaustive follow-up of the Valencia metro accident, a work for which she received the Torrent Cultural Ateneu Premi in 2012, the Turia Billboard prize for the best journalistic contribution in 2014 or the 2016 Freedom of Expression Award from the Patraix Neighbor Association. He has worked at El Punt, in local radio and television media, in addition to the Paleta d'Ocres cooperative, specializing in environmental, cultural and health issues.
Jury
The jury has been chaired by Begoña Cerro Prada, deputy director general for the Promotion of Book, Reading and Spanish Letters. They have acted as members: at the proposal of the Association of Authors of Comic of Spain (AACE), Ulises Ponce López; by the Federation of Professional Illustrators Associations (FADIP), Asier Iturralde González de Alaiza; by the Spanish Confederation of Guilds and Bookshop Associations (BLIND), Gonzalo González Verdoy; by the Association of Critics and Disclosers of Comic of Spain, Elena Masarah Revuelta; by Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Jordi Teixidor de Otto; by the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (Fap), Berta Tapia Zamora; for him Feminist Research Institute of the Complutense University of Madrid, Graciela Padilla Castillo; and the award-winning author in the 2018 call, Ana Peñas Chumillas.