King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia presided over Monday's gala in Barcelona marking EL PAÍS's 50th anniversary, where Ortega y Gasset Prizes were awarded to Svetlana Alexiévich, Sergio Ramírez, and Martin Baron. The king emphasized that “journalism is crucial for freedoms and democracy”. Authorities and business leaders attended the event at the Maritime Museum.
The gala for EL PAÍS's 50th anniversary took place on Monday, May 4, 2026, at Barcelona's Maritime Museum, presided over by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. The event was attended by Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, Science Minister Diana Morant, Catalan President Salvador Illa, and several Catalan councillors.
In his speech, Felipe VI praised “the role of informers and the press” in defending institutions and recalled his personal connection to the newspaper from childhood: “I am clear that from very early on and until today, until this very morning, this newspaper has accompanied me as a source to stay informed”. The king congratulated the newsroom for “maintaining the informative pulse”.
The Ortega y Gasset Prizes, awarded earlier at Barcelona City Hall's Saló de Cent, honored the careers of Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexiévich, writer Sergio Ramírez, and former Washington Post editor Martin Baron for their “honesty, courage, ethics, and craft”.
Sergio Ramírez dedicated his prize to over 300 exiled Nicaraguan journalists under the dictatorship, stating: “Journalism challenges power to fulfill the critical duty to inform”. EL PAÍS director Jan Martínez Ahrens summarized the newspaper's commitment: “Inform with rigor, inform with honesty”. Prisa and EL PAÍS president Joseph Oughourlian declared: “EL PAÍS is more alive and thriving than ever”.
Salvador Illa praised the newspaper as a cultural bridge between Catalonia and Madrid, recalling its first front page on May 4, 1976.
