Personalities and Institutions Recognized in Havana with the Excelencias Award

The Excelencias Award was presented to 33 Cuban personalities and relevant projects during a gala tribute in the Covarrubias Hall of the National Theater in Havana.

Jose Carlos de Santiago, President and Editor-in-Chief of the Excelencias Group, explained at the ceremony that from the beginning the essence of the awards has always been the search for something special and highlighted quality and humanism as fundamental premises for its granting.

He pointed out that the Excelencias Group has been giving this recognition for 8 years in Cuba, which on this occasion was given to 33 exceptional personalities and projects on the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benny More, El Barbaro del Ritmo.

Solidarity with those affected by the tornado that hit four municipalities of the Cuban capital was present when Jose Carlos de Santiago gave 5,500 dollars to the government of Havana as a contribution to alleviate the damage of this phenomenon that devastated homes, workplaces and students.

The award ceremony was very singular, with novel details such as the representation at the entrance of the theatre of the living statues of La Giraldilla and El Caballero de París, emblematic figures of the city, who welcomed the attendees.

It was also very attractive the performance of Contemporary Dance  and the music of Alejandro Falcon at the piano, as well as the presence of cadets dressed in uniforms of Spanish soldiers in the style of other centuries, when the Cuban capital closed its walls with the cannon fire of nine o'clock, a tradition still in force and that could be visualized in a video in the Covarrubias Hall.

The Gala Tribute included presentations by the Septeto Santiaguero, the National Symphony Orchestra, Beatriz Marquez, Niurka Reyes and Alcibiades Durruthy, remembering Benny Moré, and the closing was a waste of tradition and Cuba expression with the Conjunto Folclorico Nacional performing their piece Carnavaleando.

Excelencias Cuba Awards

The Excelencias Cuba Awards were granted to personalities, social projects and institutions linked to tourism, gastronomy, the automotive universe, culture, education, art and society.

In this edition, the awarding of the Blue and Green prizes was a novelty, which recognize the effort made toward the care of the environment and sustainable development.

EXCELENCIAS AWARDS

Pedro Martinez Pires ( Excelencias Award)

For the work of all his life and his integrity and imprint within Cuban journalism.

Rene Gonzalez Barrios (Excelencias Award)

For his dedication and indisputable contributions to the research and dissemination of the

History of the Cuban Nation.

Cuban doctors who participated in the More Doctors in Brazil program. (Excelencias Award)

For the altruism, the social commitment, and the professionalism demonstrated in their work; More than Doctors, in the areas of extreme poverty and the most intricate of Brazil.

Antonio Nuñez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Man (Excelencias Award - Green)

For his defense of the legacy of Antonio Nuñez Jimenez, Fourth Discoverer of Cuba and his passionate defense of Cuban nature.

Bird Ecology Group (Excelencias Award - Green)

For his outstanding contribution to bird conservation, university education and outreach programs through Cuba's Endemic Bird Festivals.

Camagüey Railway Museum of the Office of the Historian of the City of Camagüey (OHCC).

For the recovery of its historic buildings, the change of the urban image, the creation of new services, and the preservation of the documentary and industrial railway heritage in Camagüey.

Gourmet Trinidad: Tradition and Style, from the Office of the Conservator of the City of Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus.

For creating a space of reaffirmation for Trinitarian gastronomy and an action to safeguard Cuban cultural heritage in the Villa of the Valley of the Ingenios.

TOURIST EXCELLENCE and GOURMET AWARDS

Matanzas Pharmaceutical Museum (Tourist Excellence Awards)

For safeguarding the only original and complete French apothecary from the end of the 19th century that exists in the world and supporting it as part of our material heritage.

Cabaret Tropicana (Tourist Excellence Awards)

For being an authentic legend in the history of musical shows and dancers worldwide and a bastion of national culture.

Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad (Tourist Excellence Awards)

For its successful hotel management model, a benchmark for personalised service and customer service, in a heritage environment in Trinidad.

Hotel Segundo Frente (Tourist Excellence Award - International - Green)

For its design in full harmony with the natural environment, which respects the landscape, social and historical values of the town of the Second Front, Santiago de Cuba.

Bar-Restaurant El Floridita (Excelencias Gourmet Awards)

For being the best exponent of the Cuban cocktail, trainer of mail and female bartenders, and guardian of the best recipes of traditional cocktails and other cocktails internationally recognized. 

Tu Decides Project (Gourmet Excellencias Awards)

For promoting the responsible consumption of alcohol, accompanying the development of Cuban cocktails.

La Bodeguita del Medio. ( Gourmet Excelencias Awards)

For remaining an icon of traditional Cuban cuisine and making an authentic defense of the island's culinary heritage.

Jose Rafa Malem (Gourmet Excellencias Awards)

For his selfless contribution to the Cuban bar, the rescue and defense of the most autochthonous values of cocktails, and the training of new generations of barmen.

GASTROCULT Seminar (Gourmet Excellencias Awards)

For his incipient contributions to the declaration of the kitchen as the heritage of the Cuban nation and its interaction with the gastronomic heritage of other nations.

International Symposium on Underwater Activity in Cuba (SIMPOSUB) (BLUE Award).

For his praiseworthy contribution to the rescue and conservation of Cuba's underwater cultural and natural heritage.

Empresa Aguas de La Habana (Excelencias del Motor Awards - Green)

For its policy of using renewable energy in its vehicle fleet and the consequent energy savings to the country by launching the first fleet of electric cars in Cuba.

Domingo Alonso Internacional S.L. (Excelencias del Motor Awards - Green)

For its valuable contribution to the preservation of the environment, by introducing in its range of products automotive equipment using renewable energy.

Carlos Hernandez Lujan (Excelencias del Motor Awards)

For his outstanding work in promoting motor sports in Cuba, the continuous and ethical exercise of editorial opinion, and his active participation in associated events.

Manuel Garcia ( Excelencias del Motor Awards)

For his special support to the development of events related to motor sports in Cuba.

Rene Navarro Albelo ( Excelencias del Motor Awards)

For his consecrated career as a sports commentator in important national and international events, and teacher of the new generations.

EXCELENCIAS AWARDS IN ARTS

Ivan Giroud

For his selfless work to consolidate the existence and scope of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.

German Muñoz

For his valuable contribution to the development of circus traditions in Cuba and the formation and promotion of Compañia Habana, whose members are present today in shows of the best circuses in the world.

Camerata Romeu    

For the 25 years of its foundation, to encourage the image of the Cuban woman and to be unique of its kind in the world.

Maria Juncal

For her work in pursuit of the development of the art of flamenco in Cuba and her link with the Flamenco Compás Project, which has allowed the growing of its members.

Viengsay Valdes Herrera  

For his commitment and notable contribution to the development of Cuban ballet and, in particular, for an artistic career that enhances the international prestige of the company Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

Eliades Ochoa Bustamante

Because it is impossible to write about Cuban music without mentioning him as one of the main cultors of traditional Cuban music and having enhanced his strength and cadence on the main stages of the world.

Los Van Van Orchestra                  

For being the great orchestra of Cuba in its 50 years of foundation and proudly sustaining the generational replacement to continue spreading around the world the work of Juan Formell.

Nils Navarro Pacheco (Blue)

For having bequeathed to us from the Viñales Valley, a World Heritage Site, the book "Guide to Cuba's Endemic Birds" which is an essential step for the guide of endemic Caribbean birds.

Architect Lazaro Morgado and the Spider House.

For building in the foothills of Topes de Collantes, Trinidad, a house in which tradition and modernity coexist, the defense of nature and eco-sustainable tourism.

Jose Ramon Artigas

For the work of a lifetime on the Cuban audiovisual stage and its contribution to national culture by demonstrating that on the small screen it was possible to show the best of local and universal art and culture.

Enrique Perez Mesa           

For his dedication to the consolidation of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba as the maximum symphonic exponent of the musical panorama of the Island, and for having propitiated from his discipline and consecration that the best musical directors of the five continents felt in this orchestra their home.

Special Prize to Havana (Excelencias Award)

For its history, its culture and its people, who magnify it with special efforts to make it look more wonderful in its 500 years. 

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