Toni Mata Wins 15th Carlemany Prize for 'El centre del món'

Toni Mata has won the 15th Carlemany Prize for Promoting Reading with his novel *El centre del món*, chosen from 31 submissions by the Andorran government and Grup 62 through Columna Edicions. The €8,500 award, funded equally by the two organizers, goes to the author.

The novel centres on Paula, a 17-year-old from a working-class family who realises money dominates every aspect of their lives. Her household struggles in a cycle of financial hardship it may never escape, amid themes of ambition, economic freedom, and fraught family ties strained by money gaps.

A jury of nine students aged 14 to 16 from Andorra’s three education systems made the selection, guided by their literature teachers. The group comprised Edith da Silva Rodríguez, Ingrid Soguero Garcia, and Sasha Vicente Furmanova from Col·legi Mare Janer; Enya Moreno Martínez, Iria Mato Cascales, and Alexandra Machado Puente from the Andorran Secondary School in Andorra la Vella; and Emma Bravo Bricullé, Ginebra Subirats Merino, and Clara Tenreiro López from Liceu Comte de Foix.

Earlier, a six-member reading panel picked the three finalists for the students’ review. It included Catalan authors Maria Carme Roca and Laia Aguilar; teachers Nina Carbonell from Col·legi Mare Janer, Sílvia Sinfreu from Liceu Comte de Foix, and Alèxia Carreras from the Andorran Secondary School in Andorra la Vella; and Glòria Gasch, an editor from Columna Edicions.

Toni Mata Damunt, born in Sabadell in 1982, works as a writer, screenwriter, comedian, and media collaborator. His earlier books feature the young adult novel *Nascuts per ser breus*, which took the Joaquim Ruyra, Menjallibres, and Protagonista Jove prizes, plus its sequel *L’alè dels llaurats*. He has also written the comic works *Momentos poco estelares de la humanidad* and *Alienació mental transitòria*, the latter earning the Caterina Albert Prize for young authors.

Columna Edicions will release *El centre del món* on 13 May 2026, with the ceremony in Andorra at that time.