Manacor rewards Joves' three decades of commitment

ManacorManacor will this year recognize the trajectory of Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua as part of the School of Mallorquí Merit Awards, which will take place on June 11. An award that “aims to be a tribute to more than three decades of work, and for this reason we will fill the Manacor Auditorium to recognize this tireless work for our own language and culture,” states the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, who recalls that on the 11th there will be a show created especially for this milestone.

The role of Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua is essential to understanding the last decades of active defense of Catalan on the island. Born in 1994 as a platform that brought together dozens of youth organizations, the association has organized campaigns, mobilizations, and has promoted different initiatives “with constant commitment, full of energy, originality, and combining activism with celebration, as it should be,” points out Oliver.

This recognition comes at a particularly significant time for the municipality, which will host Acampallengua 2026. It will not be the first time: Manacor was already its host in 2012, a fact that for Oliver “fills with pride”. “To have this youth festival in Catalan again is an honor,” says the mayor, who highlights that the activities “will spread throughout the urban center”.

In this regard, in addition to being pleased with the high participation in Acampallengua, the mayor of Manacor explained that everything is taking place “in a context of normality, of the presence of Catalan and of coexistence”. For Oliver, the regrettable thing is that “we have to resort to specific activities to promote the use of the language”. From the City Council, as he explained, collaboration with initiatives like this is done “with complete naturalness”, understanding that the Administration has the duty to be there, to defend Catalan, and to support young people who promote projects in this direction.

The fact that Manacor has decided to award Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua with the Merit Award is because since its creation in the mid-nineties “the organization has become one of the main drivers of youth mobilization in favor of Catalan, combining activism, culture, and participation,” states Oliver.

Among its best-known initiatives is the Acampallengua, but there are also many others, such as actions to promote the social use of Catalan in areas as diverse as consumption, leisure, and public space. The Correllengua, one of the Joves' best-known and most multitudinous creations, returns with force this year: The Correllengua Agermanat is a cultural, social, and sporting initiative that goes beyond a traditional race; it is a collective mobilization that will cover more than 1,500 km and 17 stages, from April 19 to May 5, 2026, and will symbolically unite North Catalonia, Catalonia, the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, and L'Alguer through the Flame of Language.

This ability to connect language with daily life, especially among young people, is one of the elements that explain the recognition they will soon receive in Manacor. Not only for their career, but for having contributed to keeping the islands' own culture alive and active for more than thirty years.

With the collaboration of the Manacor City Council