Actress Carmen Machi and artist Miguel Ángel Tornero receive the VII Nebrija CREA Awards.

The students of the degrees in Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Digital and Multimedia Design of the Faculty of Communication and Arts of Nebrija University have presented the seventh edition of the Nebrija CREA Awards to Carmen Machi, in the category of Performing Arts; Alba Melendo and Raquel Fernández Sobrín, creators of the podcast Fashion Sucks, in the category of Fashion Design; Miguel Ángel Tornero, in the category of Visual Arts, and Laura Meseguer, in the category of Digital Design.

The Nebrija CREA Awards recognise both the talent of arts professionals who inspire university students and the best practices of the creative industries they will be part of in the future. "They are a real bridge that links our university environment with the profession, a space where we celebrate those who inspire and guide our steps, and who clearly represent the excellence to which we aspire," say the students.

At a ceremony held at the Communication and Arts campus in Madrid-San Francisco de Sales at Nebrija University, the rector, José María Ortiz, highlighted the value of creation, student effort, the professional projection of the awards and Nebrija's commitment to the Arts; in short, the awards "are a sign of the innovative character" of the University and the Faculty itself. "The artist, when he expresses himself, exposes his intimacy and then comes the recognition of the creation. The great beauty of art is in the encounter of giving and receiving," he added.

Part of our collective memory

At the ceremony at the Faculty of Communication and Arts, Carmen Machi received the Performing Arts Award for "a career that has become part of our collective memory".

Calling on the students to engage in a "beautiful" conversation about the profession, the actress from Madrid thanked them for the award in a video: "You don't know how excited I am, I feel very honoured, I carry this recognition in my heart".

Carmen Machi, who is about to release the film Los justos, is one of the most popular and versatile performers in theatre, film and television. In addition to the Nebrija distinction, she has a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ocho apellidos vascos and the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts.

The original Fashion Sucks podcast

The CREA Nebrija Award in Fashion recognised the stylist and journalist Alba Melendo and the journalist Raquel Fernández Sobrín, creators of the Fashion Sucks podcast, where they "dissect the lights and shadows of the fashion industry with humour and without concessions".

"When we decided to do the podcast it was taken for granted that we were coming to drop a bombshell on the industry we work in, but we have shown that there are more stories than what is obvious: we came to bring other voices and experiences that few people know about. The podcast is giving us a lot of joy," said Raquel Fernández Sobrín.

At the award reception, her alter ego, Alba Melendo, advised the students to "be persistent and good people because that pays off".

To hit the bull's eye

Miguel Ángel Tornero received the Visual Arts Award for "expanding the limits of photography and offering us a new perspective on the everyday". The photographer and visual artist from Jaén captured in his speech the "special energy" of the award while acknowledging that "artists shoot at invisible targets in the air". Consequently, this prize "indicates to me that I am on the right path to hit the target". Intuition to reach reflection and "put names to things and rules to games", curiosity and the fact of questioning everything "but without paralysing yourself" were some of the keys to his message to young people.

Tornero has carried out artistic residencies in places such as the Spanish Academy in Rome or the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin and has been awarded relevant photography prizes such as Grünenthal (2011), Purificación García (2007), ABC (2003), or the National Prize for the Best Art Book published in 2014.

Experimental approach to typography

The Nebrija CREA in Digital Design went to Laura Meseguer "for her ability to create unique typographies and defend an experimental approach with traditional techniques and her commitment to craftsmanship".

"Typography is a discipline that is taken for granted, but it needed this recognition because it is everywhere. Lettering is the vehicle of communication, a cultural element, it is in how we express ourselves, how we write and how we read. I see the world through letters," he said on receiving the award from the Nebrija apprentices.

Nebrija's artistic community

The photographer Cristina García Rodero, the actor Lluís Homar, the musical Billy Elliot, the fashion brands Ecoalf and Maison Mesa, Madrid es Moda, the actresses Bárbara Lennie, Irene Escolar, Adriana Ozores and Abril Zamora, the artists Marina Vargas and Miss Beige, the Museo del Traje, the fashion designer Juan Duyos and the digital designers Espada and Santa Cruz are some of the previous winners who form part of the Nebrija Artistic Community. 

The gala of the 7th edition of the Nebrija CREA Awards included Nebrija students as masters of ceremony and presenters. Students Candela Latre, Diego Díaz, Samaranda Lupu, Isabella Palma, Patricia Lloret, Estefanía Barboza, Betty Portugal, Melissa Oliva, Álex García and Raquel Ruibal performed these duties. In addition, students Gerardo Salinas, Rosa Lucía Hernández and Ángela Hernández, in a creation by teacher Antía Gómez, performed one of the musical numbers from The Muppets. 

The magician Marcos Fernández (Street) and the pianist Edurne González also provided the artistic and musical touch under the watchful eye of the degree directors Lorena Palomino (Fine Arts), Amaya Hernández (Digital Design and Multimedia), Juan Ferrando (Fashion Design) and Antonio Sierra (Performing Arts).

Text: Javier Picos / Photos: Zaida del Río