Alicante Hosts the City Awards for Bullfighting Excellence
As the year closes, a sequence of taurine events crowns the top performers of each cycle. With the Spanish season drawing to a close, the Alicante City Council will open the doors of its elegant Salón Azul to welcome the bullfighting family for the annual awards honoring the best professionals of the Fogueres circuit. This year the ceremony is set for Thursday, December 19, at 8:00 p.m. Under the banner Premios ciudad de Alicante, a large number of toreros, ganaderos, and aficionados will attend one of the year’s most significant taurine gatherings. Source: Ayuntamiento de Alicante.
Manuel Escribano, the Sevillian bullfighter from Gerena, will receive the principal prize as the standout winner of the last feria for his complete performance against the cattle of Victorino Martín. Escribano’s ties to the Plaza de Toros de Alicante run deep; he has savored triumphs there, but he has also faced the harsher moments that tested his resolve. The audience values a torero who can meet the arena with courage, and this year Escribano dispelled the ghosts of the past by delivering a memorable victory in the final corrida that closed the Alicante feria, a card that also highlighted the exploits of Victorino Martín’s cattle. Source: Ayuntamiento de Alicante.
Victorino Martín García, the renowned ganadero and president of the Fundación Toro de Lidia, will be among the attendees to receive the award for the best bull of the fair. The honor goes to Boliviano, a bull that performed on the last afternoon of the Alicante festival and left a lasting impression on toreros and fans alike. The bond between the ganadero and this festival runs deep, underscoring the event’s enduring role in the region’s bullfighting culture. Source: Fundación Toro de Lidia.
Marco Pérez, the novillero from Salamanca, will be celebrated as the best novillero of the fair. Pérez has emerged as one of the brightest talents on the contemporary scene and is already contemplating a potential full debut in the 2025 season. He opened the big gate in the mixed novillada, sharing the spotlight with the Alicantinos Kevin Alcolado and Javier Cuartero. Alcolado and Pérez together claimed victory that afternoon, yet the jury deemed Pérez’s overall performance worthy of the prize for best novillero of the Feria. Source: Organizing Committee.
Beyond the main prizes, a special nod will go to another Alicantino novillero, Borja Escudero, who triumphed in the first Circuit Valenciano de Novilladas in the Valencian Community. His ascent to prominence marks him as one of the most important novilleros in the region and will be recognized accordingly. A final acknowledgment will honor the rejoneadores and the team of the corrida de rejones—Andy Cartagena, Diego Ventura, and Guillermo Hermoso de Mendoza—along with the cattle from Fermín Bohórquez, for presenting the most successful rejoneada of Hogueras 2024. Source: Circuito Valenciano / Organizing Committee.