Overview

• The state award, granted by the Ministry of Culture, carries a €30,000 endowment.
• The jury cited the book’s stylistic mastery and natural, striking lyricism in portraying the construction of a myth.
• Jurors described Presentes as a choral chronicle that interlaces multiple voices to illuminate a solemn yet grotesque chapter of Spanish history.
• The work retraces the exhumation in Alicante and the 467‑kilometre procession to El Escorial undertaken over eleven days and ten nights.
• Cerdà, a Valencia-born journalist, editor and university instructor, previously earned the 2024 Ojo Crítico de Narrativa for the same title.