On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, the awards ceremony for the Second Edition of the IB Awards for Academic Excellence took place, sponsored by the Iñaki Berenguer Foundation, to the 21 award-winning students from Alcoy, Cocentaina and Muro.

This second edition was held again in an incomparable setting such as the 'Pati d'Armes' of the Palau Comtal in Cocentaina, in a most endearing and emotional event in which the journalist Marina C. Aresté once again acted as an incredible teacher of ceremonies with Iñaki Berenguer, and, on this occasion, also had the participation of Pablo Fernández, a successful businessman and elite athlete, a reference for young people who progress thanks to academic excellence, and who offered an incredible inspirational talk.

From a humble family, Pablo graduated first in his class at the Complutense University. He later completed graduate studies at Harvard University and became the youngest Global Executive Vice President of Banco Santander. He has subsequently founded 5 startups including Clicars, which was sold for 100 million euros to Aramis in 2022. As an elite swimmer, he has broken 6 Guinness world swimming records, including the longest swim in the ocean (250 km ) or the fastest 100km in open water. A story worth hearing and that left all attendees breathless!

The awards ceremony also included the participation of the Mayor of Cocentaina (Jordi Pla Valor), the Vice Mayor of Alcoy (Àlex Cerradelo) and Councilor for Education (Alberto Belda), and the Mayor of Muro de Alcoy (Vicent Molina Perona) attended. and First Lieutenant Mayor (Saúl Serrano González). Full of pride and emotion, they accompanied the winners, their families, teachers and directors of the educational centers.

These awards publicly recognize excellence, effort and the spirit of improvement among high school students. They celebrate academic achievements and motivate students to continue striving and growing for years to come.

As Iñaki rightly indicated, seeking excellence is an attitude. It is not enough to be talented and intelligent. It also requires work capacity and perseverance to shine.

This award also seeks to activate citizen solidarity. Each of the 21 winners donated €500 of their prize to a non-profit association of their choice, providing a moment of reflection on the importance of giving back to society with time, knowledge and contributions. The students have already shown their solidarity with the election of local associations and messages of affection and explanation of the reason for the choice.

These students are called to be leaders and stand out in society. They will be a reference for other young people in their communities.

Below is the list of the winners of each Institute and the Association to which they present their prize.

Photography Credits: Rafa Romero

More information: contacto@premiosib.com

More about Pablo Fernández:

● TVE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK3UmfLjhpo

● The Country -

https://elpais.com/economia/negocios/2023-01-28/como-un-inversor-de-carabanchel-con-v

arios-guinness-record-in-swimming-hit-a-pop-of-100-million-euro-with-clicks.h

tml

● The World -

https://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2018/01/18/5a5bc166468aebf2618b45c0.html

● Madrid Diario -

https://www.madridiario.es/pablo-fernandez-cofundador-clicars-clikalia-entrevista

● Expansion -

https://www.expansion.com/directivos/2021/04/12/607477ee468aebbf468b45ff.html

● ABC -

https://www.abc.es/summum/gente-vip/abci-pablo-fernandez-historia-exito-bate-records-n

adando-sharks-202101281350_noticia.html

● El Mundo https://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2018/01/18/5a5bc166468aebf2618b45c0.html