The Universitat de València has been recognised with one of the 2026 Hortanoticias Awards. The regional means of communication celebrates its 21st anniversary and recognises highlighted people and initiatives for the contribution to l’Horta every year.
The award recognises the Salvem les Fotos, project, an initiative boosted by the Universitat de València to which other institutions will be joined subsequently –the Mancomunitat de l’Horta Sud, distinguished ex aequo– among them. The project was born with the objective of recovering the photographical heritage of the affected families of the 2024 DANA and to preserve an essential part of its personal and collective memory.
In behalf of the Universitat de València, the vice-rector for Culture, Sports, and Social Link –Albert Moncusí–, and the technical coordinator and researcher Alejandra Nieto collected the award. In behalf of the grouping of municipalities, its vice-president Lorena Sirvent.
Since its launch, Salvem les Fotos enabled to recover more than a million photos and other materials that belonged to more than 1.700 families. This work was possible thanks to the collaboration of the technical and researcher staff, experts in conservation and restoration, students and hundreds of volunteers.
In addition, the initiative developed a pioneering protocol for the rescue, cleaning, drying, stabilisation, digitalisation, and return of the images. It was a process that enabled to maintain the documental heritage of incalculable sentimental, historical and social value. The project remains active, creating new voluntary works and expanding recovery tasks to reach most affected families.
With this recognition, the Hortanoticias Awards put into value the social commitment of an initiative that has turned image recovery into a tool to reconstruct collective memory after the catastrophe. The award also highlights the role of the Universitat de València in the transfer of knowledge and the service to society, through the collaboration with institutions and entities of the territory.
The ceremony of the 2026 Hortanoticias Awards was celebrated in Torrent, where other people, entities and companies of the region were also recognised for their talent and commitment to solidarity.