The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture said today that the Government aims to "encourage creativity in the Azores" with the creation of prizes in the fields of Humanities, Architecture and Painting.

With a cash value of 12 thousand Euros each, the prizes will be dedicated to the memory of Daniel de Sá (Humanities), Paulo Gouveia (Architecture) and António Dacosta (Painting).

During the presentation session, Luiz Fagundes Duarte said that naming these awards after Azorean personalities who "have distinguished themselves in various fields of knowledge" is also a way of "paying tribute to personalities that have dignified the Azores at a regional, national and international level, and therefore they should be known by the Azorean population."

"It is important that the Government take the responsibility of honouring these Azorean personalities, as it did in the Council of the Government at the highest level, and, simultaneously, raise the awareness of the population for the urgent need of promoting our heritage, through the dissemination of their works," underlined the government official.

Speaking to journalists, the Regional Secretary revealed that the Government will recommend the award jury to "select works of great quality" since this initiative is intended "to promote and encourage creativity at the highest level."
The prizes will be awarded for the first time in 2014. As they will biennial prizes, they will be awarded in even years.

According to Luiz Fagundes Duarte, the prizes to distinguish other creative areas such as dance, music and design, among others, will be awarded in odd-numbered years; these prizes will also pay tribute to Azorean personalities.

During the presentation session of the cultural awards, which was attended by the relatives of writer Daniel de Sá and architect Paulo Gouveia, the Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture revealed that the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Azorean painter António Dacosta will start today with a conference to take place at the Angra do Heroísmo Public Library.

A collection of sugar packets depicting the works of Dacosta will be launched in the context of these celebrations, which will take place throughout the year with several events. António Dacosta was an Azorean artist who has been internationally distinguished.