A large number of literary, cultural and editorial awards are announced and presented every year in Barcelona in recognition of poetry, fiction or plays, as well as translations, publishers, book shops or public figures who help support, promote and publicise local and international literature and culture.
The Consell Social of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia is the institutional body of the society at the University. Since 1991, the Consell Social has presented the UPC award to works of science fiction, a genre that combines science and literature based on technical knowledge and creativity. Presented every two years since 2010, the award is given to original, unpublished science fiction novels written in Catalan, Spanish, English or French.
The Barco de Vapor award has been presented to child literature written in Spanish since 1979. In 1984, when the publishing house Editorial Cruïlla was created, the first Vaixell de Vapor award for works in Catalan was presented. Since then, Editorial Cruïlla, which forms part of Grupo SM, has presented this award every year to reward and promote quality works of child literature. The Catalan award has been presented to writers such as Núria Albó (1984), Jordi Sierra i Fabra (1990 and 1998), Andreu Sotorra (1992), Jaume Cela (1997, 2005 and 2010) and David Cirici (2015), among others. The Gran Angular award is the equivalent for juvenile literature.
