The Youth Department of the Government of the Canary Islands has awarded the Joven Canarias 2023 award in the eight islands category to the Lanzarote association La Vida es Zuaina. The area, directed by Candelaria Delgado, has thus recognized the trajectory of services and relevant actions of a social, cultural, artistic, scientific, sports or youth entrepreneurship nature.
Likewise, the Director of Youth, Daniel Morales, considers that "these awards and the event we organize to deliver them allow us to highlight social references among our youth, promote values and positive models that are an example for the entire society." With this award, the more than 15 years that the Lanzarote association La Vida es Zuaina has been accompanying, supporting and promoting the participation of the most forgotten and under-resourced young people on the island are recognized.
Currently, this association serves the most vulnerable child and youth population of the Argana Alta neighborhood and also their families. Its own name is the union of languages ("zuaina" is an Arabic word that means beautiful, beautiful). La Vida es Zuaina is born from the mixture of cultures, in a neighborhood where more than 60 different nationalities coexist and where interculturality is the most beautiful gift that is created every day in the relationship of thousands of diverse children and young people who need to be recognized, seen, valued and empowered.
The awards, which will be presented in the La Gomera auditorium on November 3, are awarded this year in the individual category to the Majorera activist Nadia Martín García, in recognition of her work for human rights, as an equality agent and workshop facilitator on the prevention of gender violence and bullying from various perspectives. In addition, she has relied on her knowledge of journalism and photography, using them as tools for transmitting realities and social reflections. The development of her cultural and co-educational projects for social transformation and good treatment with young people from the Canary Islands is also recognized.
The runner-up will be Eliana Parrilla Morín, from Lanzarote, for her career since the age of 15 in youth associations in Lanzarote, in her town of Tiagua in Teguise. Since then, she has combined her studies in Social Education with the social commitment of her environment. She also created the student delegation at the Faculty of Education of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and has participated in the Canary Islands Youth Council, in the immigrant care center of Lanzarote, and more recently in the Tías City Council with thirty associations. She is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Social and Community Welfare in the field of citizen participation, which is her vocation and passion.
In the Collective category, it is awarded to the association Altihay Fuerteventura LGTBI+ sympathizers of the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura, for its intense trajectory of more than 20 years. The association promotes inclusive activities, training and raising awareness among young people about sexual and gender diversity in all municipalities of Fuerteventura, working to eradicate LGTBIfobia with all the administrations of the island, being part of its social fabric; more than 20 years promoting equality and defending the Human Rights of LGTBI+ people in Fuerteventura and in the Canary Islands. Currently, it is the second oldest active LGTBI+ association in the Canary Islands and the only one in Fuerteventura.
The runner-up in the Collective category has been awarded to the Canarian Foundation Pequeño Valiente of Gran Canaria, in recognition of the power of overcoming of young people affected by cancer, as well as the involvement of volunteers in the different programs and projects they develop. A great trajectory of years from the initial effort and work of the mothers and fathers of minors with cancer of the Maternal and Child Hospital of Gran Canaria in order to improve their quality of life and that of their families.
The Government of the Canary Islands created in 2000 and annually the Award and the Joven Canarias Awards to recognize trajectories of services and relevant actions of a social, cultural, artistic, scientific or sports nature, or of entrepreneurship in favor of the Canarian youth with the purpose of recognizing and promoting the actions carried out, by entities or people, to favor social participation, autonomy and the quality of life of young people, and to promote through this social recognition, the continuity of these actions. In 2023 with the approval of the Youth Policy Law the program is renamed Premios Joven Canarias.
The 8 Islands award, which has no economic character, is granted to a Public or private Law entity, and the modalities of collective award and individual award are also contemplated, and runners-up may be awarded.
In this edition, the jury of the Joven Canarias 2023 Awards has been chaired by Diana Pérez Saavedra, graduated in social work and university master's degree in gender studies and equality policies from the University of La Laguna. Cristina Melián Hernández, graduated in business sciences from the University of La Laguna, also participated; Gonzalo Jiménez García, graduated in Industrial Chemical Engineering from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Sara Isolina Fratini Sanoja, graduated in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid; Tamara Tayri Muñiz Pérez, graduated in journalism and humanities from the University of Carlos III; Roberto Abelleira González, graduated in social work from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Enrique Bauzá Ferré, university studies of biology from the University of Havana (Cuba) and the University of the Balearic Islands, head of relief and emergencies of the Spanish Red Cross in La Gomera and Luisa M. Guimerá Ravelo, official, as Secretary of the same.
