Chicharrito Reflejo wins competition organized by Fundación Cepsa and Santa Cruz City Council

0. The chicharrito (yellowtail fish) called ‘Chicharrito reflection’, decorated by Liseht Rodríguez Figuera, was the winner of the competition organized by the Fundación Cepsa, with the support of the Autonomous Body of Culture (OAC) of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council. Second and third place went to ‘Rainbow dream’, by Raiber González Hechevarría and ‘Chicharro style’, by Pablo Falcón Muñoz, respectively.

   The members of the jury also agreed to give a special mention to the ‘Water and mythological life’ representation of the chicharrito for its quality, execution and aesthetic merit.

2. The jury was made up of the Councillor for Culture and President of the Autonomous Body for Culture, José Carlos Acha; the head of the Fundación Cepsa in the Canary Islands, Belén Machado; the Fine Arts lecturers María Isabel Nazco and Severo Acosta; and the Doctor of Art History Nuria Segovia Martín. When announcing their decision, they took into account the link between the proposal and the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the artistic and cultural interest of the work and originality, and various other factors.

   The final decision was the result of two different appraisals: the jury, once assembled, accounted for sixty per cent of the decision, and the remaining forty per cent was the popular vote cast through the website of the City Council of the capital, Facebook and Twitter. The two appraisals were quite close, and both sides agreed on the first two winners, who received 1,654 and 1,466 popular votes, respectively. A total of 2,926 citizens and visitors voted online for their three favorite sculptures.

4. José Carlos Acha spoke about the originality of the decorative works presented, with their range of different materials, and thanked the Fundación Cepsa, which has created and promoted this initiative, for its support. He also thought it was important that the jury and the popular vote agreed on what were the two most possible works.

6. Belén Machado praised the technical and artistic quality of the eight finalists. She also said the sculptures had stirred up a lot of interest in thousands of

7. citizens and visitors during the month that they were exhibited first in the Rambla de las Tinajas and later in the La Recova Art Center.

Any member of the public could take part in this competition. The jury selected eight finalists out of the 45 initial proposals submitted, and these finalists had the opportunity to make their ideas reality in the fiberglass sculptures and polyester resin, 2.30 meters high (including the stand) provided by the organization.