The Cervantes Board of Trustees holds its annual meeting this Tuesday, chaired by the King and Queen

Eduardo González The King and Queen will preside over the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Instituto Cervantes this Tuesday and the lunch with the Trustees, with the Ibero-American ambassadors accredited in Spain and with the authorities. The meeting of the Board of Trustees will take place at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez and will allow the trustees to learn about the main data of the 2023-2024 academic year, as well as the objectives and forecasts for the new academic year. In addition, Felipe VI will present the Premio Ñ, the award with which the Instituto Cervantes recognises personalities who stand out for their work in international dissemination of the Spanish language. The King, Honorary President of the Board of Trustees of the Instituto Cervantes, presents this award every year at the meeting of the institution's trustees. This recognition by the Instituto Cervantes was created in 2021, within the framework of the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of the Instituto Cervantes, and fits in with the objectives of the institution: to promote the teaching and use of the Spanish language (spoken by almost 600 million people in the world, of which some 480 have it as their mother tongue) and to spread the culture of more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries. The honorary distinction was approved by the Board of Directors of the Instituto Cervantes on May 8, 2006. The minutes of that meeting state that “it was decided to create the Ñ awards to recognize the career of those people who, not being native Spanish speakers, have distinguished themselves by their work of promoting and promoting our language internationally.” “This is not only a sign of gratitude towards the winners, but also to encourage many others to follow their example,” the minutes continue. The Instituto Cervantes may award it to individuals or legal entities, public or private, who have distinguished themselves by their work promoting and promoting Spanish internationally, by special support for these objectives or by a career of special dedication to them. The annual award consists of a bronze sculpture with the logo of the Instituto Cervantes, inspired by the letter ñ, characteristic of the Spanish language. The meeting of the Board of Trustees takes place a few days after the presentation in Madrid of the Yearbook ‘Spanish in the World 2024’, prepared by Cervantes and which shows that this year, for the first time, the number of potential Spanish speakers worldwide exceeds the figure of 600 million. This figure includes almost 500 million native speakers, in addition to those with limited competence (around 78 million) and students (more than 24 million, a group with ample room for growth).

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