El enmendador de corazones, a short story by Ricardo Reques—born in Madrid but based in Córdoba since the age of eleven—has won first prize in the 4th “University of Córdoba” International Short Story Contest on University Life. The jury, chaired by the director of the UCO Publishing Service, Fernando López Mora, and composed of Juan Díez, technical education inspector; Maria del Carmen Liñán, director of the University Library; Soledad Miranda, associate professor of Contemporary History at UCO; and Isabel Estévez, from the University Library, acting as secretary, highlighted the winning story’s “narrative pulse, which is fluid and at the same time possesses resources that maintain plot tension until an ending not devoid of irony and a certain touch of humor.”
For the jury, “the well-constructed characters support the narrative structure and easily connect with the reader, while the plot leitmotif is nothing but a professional vocation taken to the ultimate extreme, to a hyperbolic point of no return.” The story will receive a cash prize of 1,500 euros and will be published in a single volume along with the other nine finalists in the following order of votes:
1st runner-up: Volver by Alivia Mellizo Sanz
2nd runner-up: La vigilia más larga by Rocío Rubio Garrido.
3rd runner-up: La vida nunca espera by Pedro José Lacort Rodríguez.
4th runner-up: El oscuro poema by Maria Gómez Rodríguez
5th runner-up: Estómago by Angel R. Oquendo.
6th runner-up: Paraíso particular by David Omar Sáez Jiménez
7th runner-up: Derecho Civil catalán by David Vivancos Allepuz
8th runner-up: La coleccionista by Rafaela Bueno Martín
9th runner-up: Córdoba July 10. Aula IV by Salvador Campos Zaldiernas
The call for entries received 66 stories from Egypt, Spain, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Peru, and France, with a notable representation from Spain and Córdoba. The winner, who holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Córdoba, has published several stories in various anthologies on a wide range of topics, including stories specifically for children, although his favorite specialty is the fantastic tale and his primary influences are Borges and Kafka.
