The Temas 2020 Essay Awards, convened every year in the categories of Art and Literature and the Social Sciences, were presented in the afternoon of November 13, 2020.

Rafael Hernández, director of the journal Temas, presented both panels of judges and explained the complexities of the context of these last few months in which the Editorial Team has continued and broadened its work. It has not only maintained the Temas blog Catalejo in the Cubarte portal, but also opened a digital environment in Whatsapp to preserve the space of Último Jueves [Last Thursdays], that was suspended in its monthly physical version at the Centro Cultural Fresa y Chocolate.

Hernández emphasized the variety and diversity of topics of the essays that were presented in this call, as well as the different geographical origins of the authors, on this occasion hailing from 10 countries (Mexico, France, Paraguay, Peri, El Salvador, Venezuela, Germany, Spain, Colombia, Argentina), and seven Cuban provinces: Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey, Villa Clara, Artemisa, Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba and La Habana.

A brief award ceremony, carried out in the Temas headquarters in Vedado, was transmitted live through its institutional page in  Facebook.

In the category of Art and Literature, the panel of judges headed by the art critic, Jorge Núñez, joined by the researchers Michael Chanan and María Isabel Alfonso, decided to award the Prize to the text “El cuerpo audiovisual de la nación cubana (notas para la construcción de un atlas del audiovisual cubano)” [The audiovisual collection of the Cuban nation: notes for the construction of an atlas of Cuban audiovisuals| by the researcher, cultural promoter and film critic, Juan Antonio García Borrego. The author sent his appreciation from his native Camagüey via internet.

On the other hand, in the category of Social Sciences, the jury headed by Daybel Pañellas Alvarez, and composed of Par Kumaraswami and Anabel Díaz Hurtado, awarded a first mention to the essay, “Contextos que limitan: la reproducción de la vulnerabilidad social de las personas con discapacidad ante la pandemia de la Covid-19” [Limiting contexts: the reproduction of the social vulnerability of disabled persons in the Covid-19 pandemic], presented by Danay Díaz Pérez. A second mention was given to “Cambiar en su esencia la relación estado-propietario y la empresa es una imprescindible y larga tarea, que debe iniciarse aquí y ahora” [Changing the essence of the relationship between the state-owner and the enterprise is an essential and long task], by Augusto César Vega.

By unanimous decision the members of the panel of judges of this 2020 edition awarded the Temas Essay Prize in the Social Sciences Category to “Ternura y política, acaso un ensayo sobre la felicidad” [Tenderness and politics, possibly an essay on hapiness], by the Cuban researcher Ariel Dacal Díaz. 

Translation: Rafael Betancourt