Iberdrola España presents the 6th edition of the Iberdrola Supera Awards in Toledo
Iberdrola España has today presented the 6th edition of the Iberdrola Supera Awards, held at the Parador in Toledo. The awards aim to highlight projects and initiatives that promote women's sport and foster equality through sporting practice.
As in previous editions, the awards will be distributed across six categories, each with a prize of €50,000:
- Supera Base, which rewards initiatives that promote youth sport for girls up to the age of 16.
- Supera Competición, which recognises actions that encourage the participation of women (aged 16 and over) in competitive sports.
- Supera Social, which acknowledges initiatives that foster the integration of women at risk of social exclusion through sport.
- Supera Inclusión, which highlights exemplary projects for the practice of sport by people with disabilities.
- Supera Difusión, which honours actions that raise awareness of the role of women in sport and promote the achievements of our female athletes.
- Supera Rural, which rewards initiatives that promote sport for girls or women in municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.
The deadline for submitting applications opened on 24 April and will close on 27 June. From that day onwards, each project will be thoroughly reviewed by an honour jury made up of prominent personalities from the world of sport and the media, such as Sandra Sánchez, Carolina Marín, Alexia Putellas, Paloma del Río, Manu Carreño, among others.
The event held today in the capital of Castile-La Mancha was attended by Sandra Sánchez; Loida Zabala, a member of the Iberdrola Ambassadors programme; and Laura Gil, the company’s Sponsorship Manager.
The karateka, from Talavera de la Reina, highlighted in her speech that “behind these awards are the dreams of many projects and individuals, and that through this recognition, we can transform both the present and the future of an entire generation.” Sandra Sánchez emphasised, with her usual smile and charm, the “responsibility” she felt this year as a jury member to choose the winners carefully and “provide real opportunities to those who can benefit from this boost, taking on the responsibility of contributing to social change.”
Meanwhile, the weightlifter, who won the Iberdrola Supera Inclusión Award in the first edition in 2020 for her project 'Mucho por hacer', said that “we lived an incredible experience where we trained many people who had just acquired that disability. The Iberdrola Supera Awards allowed us to fill up with dreams, dreams that today are the realities of people who are now becoming Spanish champions in our sport.” “They helped me a lot to establish the Loida Zabala Foundation and offer people who had just acquired a disability the opportunity to discover adaptive sport as a tool for overcoming, motivation, and personal development.”
Through 'Mucho por hacer', Loida Zabala aimed to create a multi-purpose gym with sports equipment at the Paraplegic Hospital in Toledo so that patients could take up weightlifting and find a refuge in sport during their stay. The project has since expanded to two gyms: Berserkers Powerlifting in Toledo and Entrena Intenso in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Madrid. The initiative has been hugely successful, with some of the athletes now training in weightlifting thanks to Loida's project competing in the Spanish Championship last weekend.
Lastly, Laura Gil remarked that “for Iberdrola España, it is a pride to contribute to making the projects and dreams of wonderful people who want to improve their communities a reality, with sport as the cornerstone of a more integrated and equal society. What fills us with joy and motivates us to continue each year with such a beautiful initiative as Supera is seeing the excitement these awards generate and how this contributes to making the world a better place.” She concluded the event by reminding everyone that the deadline for submissions is 27 June and encouraged everyone to submit their applications.
Record participation in 2024
In its fifth edition, the Iberdrola Supera Awards set a record for registrations, with over 1,300 applications, compared to more than 900 in the 2023 call. Since its first edition in 2020, the Iberdrola Supera Awards have received over 4,000 applications.