Ignacio Galán presented the Iberdrola Supera Awards at a gala event held at its headquarters in Madrid
The chairman of Iberdrola emphasises the ‘shared enthusiasm’ of these awards, which promote equality through sport
The fifth edition of the Iberdrola Supera 2024 Awards, which was scheduled to take place last November but had to be postponed in solidarity with those affected by the damage, finally took place at the company's headquarters in Madrid.
The marquee set up in the central garden of the Iberdrola headquarters brought together numerous personalities from the world of sport and the media, including the President of the Higher Sports Council, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes; the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco; the President of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE), Alberto Durán Lopez; badminton champion Carolina Marín; medallist Teresa Perales; footballers Alexia Putellas, Irene Paredes and Vicky López; and the journalist Susanna Griso, among others.
The gala, which was hosted by the comedian and monologist Ana Morgade, began with a performance by the rapper Erika Dos Santos, who livened up the evening, as did the gymnasts from Dinamic Show and the young singer Sandra Valero.
Six winners and more than 1,300 nominations
The fifth edition of these awards, with a total of 300,000 euros in prize money and which aim to promote equality through grassroots sports, has seen a record number of entries since they were launched, with more than 1,300 nominations, compared to 900 in the previous edition. In total, since the first edition in 2020, the Iberdrola Supera Awards have received almost 4,000 nominations.
In the 2024 edition, the winners in the six categories were as follows:
- Supera Base: Club M-Urban, a speed skating club that is looking to build a suitable track where promising young skaters can develop their skills.
- Supera Competition: The 3x3 Academy, for its project ‘From junior to senior. We want to play with the best’, which seeks to consolidate a 3x3 basketball team made up of eight players under the age of 19.
- Supera Social: Segunda Parte Foundation for its project ‘Swimming towards resilience: returning after a stroke’, which aims to encourage women who have suffered a stroke to take up swimming, in order to improve their quality of life and independence.
- Supera Difusión: the digital newspaper Visibilitas.com, specialising in high-performance women's sport, covering information on athletes, clubs, national teams and federations. It works to increase the visibility and empower the role of women in sport.
- Supera Inclusion: Aloka Surf & SUP Eskola, for its project ‘Find your wave’, a project that allows anyone, regardless of their physical or mental condition, to enjoy the sea through surfing.
- Supera Rural: A. D. Escola Judo Club, for its project ‘Escuela de Judo rural’ (Rural Judo School) which seeks to promote Judo schools in rural municipalities and, through this sport, to promote gender equality, healthy lifestyle habits and the fundamental values of Judo (courtesy, friendship, respect, honour, modesty and self-control).
The awards are endowed with 50,000 euros each, which will allow the schools and organisations that have received them to have better means for the development of their activity, in the form of courts where they can practice the sport, or facilities such as changing rooms and adequate equipment.
Iberdrola Jury and Ambassadors
Among those attending the gala were some of the members of the Awards' Honorary Jury, which is made up of leading figures from the world of sport and the media, such as Vicente del Bosque, Sandra Sánchez, Carolina Marín, Teresa Perales, Jesús Carballo, Marta Arce, Ona Carbonell, Eli Pinedo, Alexia Putellas, Susana Rodríguez, Lydia Valentín, Sonsoles Ónega, Susanna Griso, Manu Carreño, Paloma del Río, Paco González and Fátima Iglesias.
More than 30 Iberdrola ambassadors also attended the gala, including Alexia Putellas, Carolina Marín, Teresa Perales, Susana Rodríguez, Sandra Sánchez, Adiaratou Iglesias, Ona Carbonell, María Pérez and Irene Paredes, all of them female athletes who, through their achievements, values and personal efforts, have become social role models.
Speech by the president
The Iberdrola Supera Awards ceremony concluded with a speech by the company's president, Ignacio Galán, who emphasised how proud Iberdrola is to help different communities benefit from the generosity and projects of extraordinary people who want to improve the quality of life of their neighbours, with sport as a fundamental pillar.
‘This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and endearing events that can be held throughout the year. For a company like ours that does something as simple and yet as necessary as generating and distributing electricity, it is very special to see how, with our awards, we are generating a shared enthusiasm that makes many people happy. It is also an honour to have the jury that makes up these awards and our ambassadors, who are essential so that all girls in this country have female role models at the highest level,’ he said.
Iberdrola, driving equality through sport
For Iberdrola, sport is one of the essential vehicles for equality. Since 2016, it has been the main promoter of women's sport. It currently supports 35 national federations and lends its name to more than 160 competitions. Thanks to its commitment, the number of members of these federations has increased by more than 80%, reaching almost 820,000.
The energy of the electric also extends to Paralympic sport. Since its creation in 2005, it has collaborated with the Paralympic Objective Sport Support Plan (ADOP) of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) with the aim of providing our athletes with the best conditions to carry out their preparation and face with guarantees of success the participation in all competitions.
