The Premio Internacional de Poesía Ciudad de Melilla is one of Spain's top literary awards, given every year to an unpublished poetry collection by a Spanish-speaking author. The Prize was created in 1979 in honor of Miguel Fernandez, Melilla's most distinguished poet, and is organized by the city's Consejería de la Cultura (Cultural Council). The Prize is awarded in October by a panel of renowned
poets and critics, amid cultural festivities organized by Spain's UNED -Universidad Libre a Distancia and the City Hall. In 2003 it was established a finalist or runner-up. The winner of the prize gets €18.000, while the finalist takes €9.000, and both books are published under the Prize's own collection by Visor, a poetry publisher. Premio Internacional de Poesía Ciudad de Melilla is an important poetry award in the Spanish-speaking world. If at the beginning it received every year more than 600 manuscripts, involving has been decreasing during last 5 years, and in the last edition only 43 candidates took part. Candidates are mostly from Spain, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay, but also from the United States and other parts of the world. Despite this, only three poets from outside Spain has ever won the award, Nicaraguan Gioconda Belli in 2006, Mexican Marco Antonio Campos in 2009, Argentine Diana Bellessi in 2010.
