MÁS accuses the People's Party (PP) of turning the Mallorca awards into a tool to "favor Castilian over Catalan."
The party has demanded the immediate abolition of the new categories in Spanish.
PalmMÁS por Mallorca in the Consell has publicly denounced the increase in Spanish-language categories in the Mallorca Awards and accused the PP of turning these awards into "an instrument to favor Spanish and marginalize Catalan."
The party has condemned the expansion of the Spanish-language categories, pointing out that poetry and essay categories were introduced in 2024 and that a third category (narrative) has been promoted this year.
In their opinion, this successive incorporation represents a "regressive" cultural policy in relation to Mallorca's own language. "This evolution is not neutral: it involves public resources and an institutional projection that normalizes the use of Spanish in spaces that had historically reinforced Catalan culture and language," they criticized in a press release.
For the island's spokesperson for MÁS, Catalina Inés Perelló, it is "unacceptable" that the PP "gives in" to Vox's demands and uses public money to fund Spanish-language prizes that "empty" the local language. "There are thousands of literary competitions in Spanish everywhere (private, state-run, and international) that do not require public sponsorship from the Consell (Catalan Council); however, initiatives in Catalan continue to lack resources and visibility," argued Perelló, who demanded the withdrawal of this new category.
MÁS has also criticized the fact that the 2025 call for entries raises the overall prize money for the Mallorca Awards to €138,000, including the new Spanish-language narrative category. This increases the amount allocated to awards that, they emphasized, compete with an abundant supply of prizes.
According to the group, these resources "should prioritize the creation, dissemination, and promotion of Catalan," since, in its opinion, the "wealth of offerings in Spanish makes it unfeasible to justify it as a strategic commitment." Thus, MÉS has demanded the immediate elimination of the new categories in Spanish and has called for public funds to be "redirected" toward projects that strengthen the Catalan language and culture.