This Thursday afternoon the winners of the VII #SiempreFuerte Awards were announced. La Rosaleda hosted the voting ceremony, where a jury made up of 11 people, headed up by José María Muñoz, president of the MCF Foundation, and Paco Ráez, Pablo's father and honorary member who issued his signed vote, ruled on the winners of the 2024 edition.
This is the story of the award-winning entities and personalities. Congratulations for the recognition and all of your hard work!
Social Entity Awards 2023
ONCE Málaga
The ONCE Foundation for Cooperation and Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities was founded in February 1988. Its main objective is to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, promoting social initiatives carried out by disability entities, people with disabilities and their families. Based on the belief that the best way to achieve normalisation for people with disabilities is through work placement, the Fundación ONCE allocates around two thirds of its budget to actions aimed at employment and training of people with disabilities.
ASAMMA
ASAMMA was established in 1987 by a group of women who had suffered from breast cancer and decided to create a space where they could meet and share their experiences and feel supported. Following years of struggle and sacrifice, they become an organisation dedicated to helping and accompanying women who have undergone breast cancer surgery with physical, psychological and social help, as well as their families. They raise awareness about its prevention throughout Málaga province. Their vision is based on the idea that all women undergoing breast cancer surgery have sufficient resources to participate in their oncological process, with them being the protagonists. In addition, they teach women how to perform breast self-examination and diagnostic tests at the appropriate time throughout their lives, promoting early detection of the disease.
Asociación Nena Paine
Set up in 2013, this year it turns 10 years old, and has been a Public Utility Entity since 2018. Their main work is to carry out teaching programs for support aimed at minors who may feel excluded in their school or in their environment due to learning difficulties or their inability to relate. They carry out educational, sports, social and cultural projects, currently totalling seven:
Academia Jaime Alonso, Todos los Niños y Niñas nos Importan, Tu Futuro nos Importa, Escuela Deportiva, Campamento de Verano, Economato Pilar Galera, SuperCapaces en Acción and Centro especial de empleo.
Abdallah Ben Barek Award
Almudena Montiel
This Malagueña is one of the first three Andalusians to debut in the Paralympic Games in basketball in Tokyo 2020. Almudena, who suffered a car accident in 2007, was proclaimed League champion in 2018 and Cup champion in 2021 at Amiab Albacete; titles that she added to three other leagues and three cups with Madrid's Fundosa ONCE. The Malagueña also achieved a valuable seventh place at the World Cup in Hamburg (2018). Furthermore, she participated with the Spanish team in the European Championship held in Madrid where she achieved an unprecedented milestone with the team: her first international medal, which was bronze.
#SiempreFuerte Special Award
María Victoria Atencia
A Málaga poet belonging to the Generation of '50, who fuses classicism and modernity, and is considered a master of Alexandrine verse. She is an academic from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Telmo, in Malaga; she is a corresponding academic of the Royal Academies of Cádiz, Córdoba, Sevilla and San Fernando; advisor at the Junta de Andalucía’s Centro Andaluz de las Letras, the “Fundación de la Generación del 27” in Madrid, the “Centro Cultural Generación del 27” of Málaga, the “Fundación María Zambrano” (Vélez-Málaga), and the “Honorary Associate of The Hispanic Society of America” of New York. Among her countless awards, the Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry (2014) stands out, being the fourth woman to achieve it and the first Spanish woman; Málaga’s Provincial Cultural Centre has carried her name since then. She is the ‘Hija Predilecta de Andalucía’ and received the Gold Medal from the Province of Málaga in 2005. For being a true Malagueña benchmark in the art world at a national and international level, María Victoria Atencia will receive the #SiempreFuerte Special Award.
The jury that deliberated at La Rosaleda was made up of 11 members: José María Muñoz, president of the MCF Foundation; Francisco Martín Aguilar, MCF’s Protocol and Institutional Relations advisor; Sebastián Fernández 'Basti', from the MCF Foundation’s Social Department; Lucía Cereto, member of the MCF Foundation; Juande Rivas, MCF captain; Encarni Carneros, MCFF captain; and Paula López, Málaga Genuine player, on behalf of Málaga Club de Fútbol; and Francisco Cantos (Councillor for Social Rights, Diversity, Equality and Accessibility of Málaga City Hall), Mariola Vergara (Deputy for Equality, Social Services and Families at the Diputación de Málaga) and Alba Ortiz (coordinator of the Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud), representing the City Hall, Diputación and Junta de Andalucía were all present at the voting ceremony. Paco Ráez, Pablo's father and honorary member, cast his signed votes as he could not be present at the event.
Málaga Club de Fútbol conveys its most sincere congratulations to the winners and is proud of their immense work and achievements. The winners in the three categories will be recognised on the afternoon of 13th March, the time is yet to be confirmed, in the seventh edition of the #SiempreFuerte Awards.
Pablo, we continue Siempre Fuerte!