Redován Town Council has organised the first Grifo Awards gala, which aims to recognise the work of local people and groups. The Councillor for Culture, Clara Ezcurra, whose department has promoted these awards, explained that the idea is that they are born with “a vocation for continuity and as another way of paying tribute to people who, with their daily work, through culture or social causes, improve the quality of life of all those who live in Redován”.
Ezcurra, recalled the dynamic with which these awards were launched. “During 2022, each month has been announced through the social networks of the Town Hall of Redován to each of the winners, so now that 2023 begins what we do is bring them together at a party that will take place this Saturday 28 January at seven in the evening at the Casa de la Música Antonio Ibáñez Serrano, to deliver this award in person”. The councillor added that in 2023 “no new award winners will be named, and we hope that in 2024 they can be reactivated, because there are many people and associations in Redován who deserve it and who cannot be recognised in other competitions such as the one for working women”.
Clara Ezcurra recalled that in January 2022 the first Grifo Award was given to Manuel Miguel Belmonte Heredia, an officer of the Redován Local Police; in February to José Vegara Pozuelo, president and one of the founders of the Redován Mountain Club in 1985. “In both cases these are people who have helped many people, in the case of Manuel in the performance of his work, and in Vegara’s case, in rescues that have taken place in the mountains,” said the councillor.
The Grifo of the month of March goes to Concepción García Guillén, a neighbour involved for many years in the fiestas and traditions of Redovan, while in April the Sagrados Corazones School and its project ‘RedovánPolisGo! The sustainable village’ was the institution that received the award. Another Redovan native who has been very involved for years in the culture and traditions of his town is Miguel Terol, winner of the Grifo Award in May, followed by the recently created Asociación el Árbol de los Sueños (Tree of Dreams Association), dedicated to improving the lives of people with functional diversity. María Teresa Cayuelas, a native of Redovan since 1960, has been collaborating for decades with groups, festivals, organisations such as Caritas and Easter Week, and she is the winner of the Grifo Award for July.
José María Ros Gómez is the Grifo Award for August for his involvement in the sporting life of Redován for decades. Another native of Redovan, in this case “who has carried the name of our town wherever he has gone”, is Miguel Guillén Rufete, Grifo Award for September. Although he has lived abroad for years, first in France and then in Alicante, he has always sung with pride for his town on the stages where he has performed during his long musical career, first with his brothers and later as a soloist.
In October, the Grifo Prize is awarded to Antonio Trigueros Heredia ‘El Majo’, a person involved in social, cultural, associative and sporting life throughout his life, from the fiestas in the Barrio de la Cruz, where he lives, to Easter Week, including the exhibition of hemp work in La Gramaera and the performance of ‘Los Pastores de Belén’, as well as being responsible for forming the Redován Cycling Club
November is the month of music and the Grifo Awards have taken into account the Unión Musical de Redován, one of the main cultural manifestations of the municipality, which is also recognised beyond the borders of Redován. Finally, in December, the Grifo Award goes to the Special Fire Rescue Group of the Provincial Consortium of Alicante, which has carried out various rescues of sportsmen and women who have suffered a mishap in the Sierra de Redován.
The councillor explained some of the details of the gala, including the fact that “all the people taking part are from Redován”. Clara Ezcurra explained that the awards ceremony will be divided into four blocks, in each of which three prizes will be awarded. “To divide them up we have different musical performances, the Unión Musical de Redován, the singers Fátima and Myriam, the Sagrados Corazones School Choir and the singer Gloria Rocamora, accompanied by her family,” she concluded.
