• Nominations for these awards can be submitted until 02/07.
• The "Rural Women's Innovation Excellence Awards" recognize the work, projects, and key role of women in rural areas.

After celebrating their tenth anniversary in 2019—which saw the incorporation of important new features—these awards are confirmed as one of the Spanish Government's main recognitions of the outstanding work, projects, and careers of rural women.

Visibility

The awards, which have been granted since 2010, aim to recognize the work of rural women in the diversification of economic activity and the entrepreneurial activities of women in rural areas. The objective of these prizes is to recognize original and innovative projects based on agricultural, fishing, agri-food, and complementary activities that promote the incorporation and employment of women in the region.

Categories

As established in the Order of May 26, 2020, which establishes the call for 2020 , there are four categories of awards with financial endowment and a category of "Special recognition for the career linked to support for women in rural areas", which recognizes the support, promotion and enhancement of women in rural areas or in rural coastal areas.

These categories are:

a) “Excellence in Innovation in Agricultural Activity.” This award is intended for projects that utilize agricultural, livestock, or forestry technologies in their development, leading to the advancement of a sustainable sector that is efficient in producing quality products, responds to consumer demand, and can integrate marketing and promotion strategies.

b) "Excellence for Innovation in Fishing or Aquaculture Activities." This award is given to projects that, in their development, utilize fishing or aquaculture technologies that contribute to the advancement of a sustainable sector, efficient in producing quality products, that responds to consumer demand, and that can integrate marketing and promotion strategies.

c) “Excellence in innovation in diversification of economic activity in rural areas or rural coastal areas” . This award is given to projects that diversify economic activity in rural areas, linked to, among others, the agri-food industry, the fishing or aquaculture products industry, the provision of services to agriculture and forestry, activities related to the provision of services and social integration, and tourism activities, which promote employment in rural areas or rural coastal areas.

d) "Excellence in Communication." This award recognizes work in the fields of communication, information, and media that has contributed to disseminating women's work in rural areas or rural coastal areas.

Within each category, a first, second, and third prize will be established, chosen based on the score obtained based on the evaluation criteria and whose cash award will be proportional to the position obtained.

Outside the competitive bidding regime:

e) "Special recognition for a career linked to supporting women in rural areas." This is an extraordinary award and may be granted to a natural person who is a woman or a legal entity whose management includes a woman, when there are outstanding or ongoing circumstances related to the support, promotion, and enhancement of women in rural areas or rural coastal areas. This is an honorary award that does not entail a monetary prize.

The deadline for submitting applications for these awards is July 2, one month after publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

Application forms can be downloaded from the Ministry's website. To access them, if the link doesn't work, simply follow these steps:

1.- MAPA electronic headquarters
2.- Procedures
3.- Rural Development
4.- Excellence Awards for Innovation for Rural Women.

Economic endowment

The MAPA believes it is necessary to encourage these projects by establishing a financial endowment for the four award categories, with a total maximum amount of €150,000.

In each of the categories a), b), c) and d), three initiatives will be awarded: first prize: €18,000 / second prize: €12,000 / third prize: €7,500 .