This prize was founded by the Universitat de València in 1998, when the Valencian journalist died. It is given to people or collectives that stand out for their civic career and commitment with Valencian culture and language.

The event will be presided by Antonio Ariño and Wenceslao Rambla, vice-principals of the Universitat de València and the Universitat Jaume I. It will count with the intervention of the honourees, the writer Toni Mollà and the journalist Rosa Solbes.

The commission and the jury that organises the award is formed by the Universitat de València, the Universitat Jaume I, people who had a close friendship with Vicent Ventura, CCOO, STEPV, UGT, the Farmer and Stockbreeder Union and the Valencian Journalist Union.

El Genovés 

The player of Valencian pilota Francisco Cabanes Pastor, also known as El Genovés (20 December 1954) played from 1972 to 1996 and is currently considered one of the five figures of 20th century in the modality escala i corda. In fact, he is depicted in the gallery of honour of Trinquete de Pelayo alongside with Nel de Murla, Quart, Juliet and Rovellet. He has been awarded with the Gold Medal for Sporting Merit of the Valencian Government, the medal of the city council of his own town, Genovés; an Octubre Award, and El Saque of the Valencian Pilota Federation and Basque txapela.

Regarding the Bancaja Individual Award, he was in the podium every year as champion or finalist since its first edition in 1986 against Sarasol. He was only absent in 1987 due to an injury. Short before he retired, he played his last individual final on 9 July 1995 against a young 22-year-old Álvaro. He came back the game and won 60-55. That final was qualified as “the match of the century”. Genovés officially retired in 1996 and was considered the number one in this sport.

Al Tall

The Valencian musical group Al Tall was created in 1975 with the objective of recovering traditional music and creating new tendencies based on ancestral methods of singing and mixing it with other Mediterranean musics.

The group has become a referent in vindicating traditional sounds and values, the Valencian language and the identity of Valencians. It is part of the core (alongside with Galician Milladoiro, Basque Oskorri or Castillian Nuevo Mester de Juglaría) that stablished folk music of different Iberian traditions as a modern genre from which hundreds of groups and several folk tendencies have developed their activity.

Al Tall has played over a thousand times in its 39 years of career. It has published more than 20 discographic works and has become a milestone of traditional Valencian music with themes such as Tio Canya and Quan el mal ve d’Almansa, and records such as Tocs i Vares. 

Al Tall concluded its public activity in 2013. They have won the Creu de Sant Jordi of the Catalan Government, the Miquelet d’Honor Award of the Societat Coral El Micalet, the Silver Medal of the Valencian Council of Culture and the Medal of the Faculty Sant Carles of Fine Arts of the Universitat Politècnica de València, among other awards. 

When they received the new by the University, the members of Al Tall stated that they wanted to dedicate this distinction “to our dear friend Enric Banyuls who recently passed away”.