The University of Guadalajara, through a project created by the Environmental Sciences Museum as part of the University’s Cultural Center, and with the support of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, has established the José Emilio Pacheco City and Nature Award. The prize, which will be given for the first time this year, will be dedicated to poetry. The winning author, who must write in Spanish and have at least ten unpublished poems or poems published in the last five years that are related to nature, urban sustainability, socio-ecological harmony and environmental conservation, will be given a purse of US $10,000. The award is dedicated to poet José Emilio Pacheco, whose work explores the duality between cities and nature.

Founded by the National Institute for the Professional Development of Booksellers, and in collaboration with the Guadalajara International Book Fair, this award is granted to aid and encourage Mexican booksellers in continuing their education and becoming more competitive. The winner will be given $200,000 pesos to use for their project.

Created by the University of Guadalajara, and with the collaboration of the National Institute for Indigenous Languages, the Culture Ministry, the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Cultures and Jalisco’s Department of Education, the American Indigenous Literature Award is granted to enrich, protect and promote the legacy and richness of Mexico’s indigenous peoples through literature in all its forms, and to and acknowledge and further develop the careers and works of indigenous authors. The award, which carries a purse of US $25,000, will be given for the fourth time at the 2016 FIL Guadalajara.

The SM Ibero-American Award for Literature for Children and Young People was implemented in 2005, the year of Ibero-American literature, with the goal of promoting literature for children and young people throughout Ibero-America. The award is given out each year during the Guadalajara International Book Fair to recognize writers of literature for children and young people and carries a purse of US $30,000.

The Americas Award, instituted in 2011, is given by the Festival de la Palabra together with the Americas Foundation of Puerto Rico. The goal of the award is to place a spotlight on authors with works of great literary value, but which tend to be overlooked in awards circuits.

The award, which carries a US $25,000 purse, is a distinction given to writers chosen by a judging panel consisting of seven members of the Ibero-Latin American literary community. The award’s organizers define writer in its broadest sense, allowing essayists, novelists, critics and journalists who are familiar with today’s literary panorama in Ibero-America, the Caribbean and their Diasporas, to participate.

Winners of the Americas Award include Arturo Fontaine Talavera from Chile (2011), Eduardo Berti from Argentina (2012), Juan López Bauzá from Puerto Rico (2013) and Claudia Salazar Jiménez from Peru (2014).

The New Voices Award, instituted in 2012 and accompanied by a US $5,000 purse, is an important distinction given out at Puerto Rico’s Festival de la Palabra. The Writer’s Committee grants the award to a Puerto Rican author worthy of international recognition who is beginning their career in the world of literature.

Previous winners of the award include Carlos Vázquez (2014), Janette Becerra (2013) and Ángel Antonio Ruíz Laboy (2012).

The Festival de la Palabra says that the award recipients are authors “whose work reflects a superior creative talent, both in terms of style and thematic dialog within the literary world.” It is given among peers to authors with no more than four published works who have received positive, consistent critical acclaim, and show a commitment to the development of Puerto Rican literature in the country and abroad.