Meet the winners of the Vivalectura 2026 Award

For 19 years, the award Vivalecture recognizes experiences that promote reading practices in different educational and social spaces.

• In this edition they have been chosen 10 projects of Santa Fe, Catamarca, Córdoba, Santiago del Estero, Río Negro, Buenos Aires and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. In total, there were 404 registered y 226 projects received from schools, libraries, teacher training institutes, universities, cultural centers, hospitals, NGOs, companies and individuals.
• The award ceremony will take place on May 7 – 4:00 p.m. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Room – Blanco Pavilion, La Rural, within the framework of the 50 Years of the International Book Fair in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires, May 2026. The winners of the Vivalectura 2026 Prize were announced, the contest that recognizes experiences that promote reading practices in different educational and social spaces. In this edition, projects from Santa Fe, Catamarca, Córdoba, Santiago del Estero, Río Negro, Buenos Aires and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

The awards ceremony will take place on May 7, at 4:00 p.m., in the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Room – Pabellón Blanco, La Rural, within the framework of the 50 Years of the International Book Fair in Buenos Aires.

The contest is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Capitalthrough the Secretary of Education of the Nationcoordinated and carried out by the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI)with the sponsorship of the Santillana Foundation.

The Evaluation Commission of the Vivalectura Award 2026 composed of Gigliola Zecchin (Canela)president of the jury; Natalia Boucht of the Ministry of Education of the Nation; Virginia Desmoures, manager of IberReading OEI; Graciela Valle, editorial director at Ediciones Santillana and Nilda Palacios, project coordinator of the Santillana Foundation, has met with the aim of selecting the winning experiences in the School and Society categories and the Special Mention, Vera Rexach Award for reading in digital environments.

This year, the project preselection process once again includes the participation of representatives from different organizations, including: Santillana Argentina; About Chalk; Boldt Printers; CONABIP; the National Teachers Library; Read Foundation; Varkey Foundation; OMEP and the Secretary of Education of Yerbabuena, Tucumán.

“We are proud to continue promoting, for 19 years and without interruption, an event that makes visible the work of institutions and people from all over the country who dedicate their efforts to promoting reading in different contexts and media. Each project creates a universe of opportunities so that more and more people can get closer to reading.«, he stated Nilda PalaciosProject Coordinator of the Santillana Argentina Foundation.

For its part, Gigliola Zecchin (Canela)president of the Vivalectura 2026 jury, comments: «It is always an honor to participate in this contest; it is a valuable and enriching experience. Libraries, schools, value it greatly; because it really is the crowning, sometimes, of a long-standing work or a truly original creation regarding the dissemination of reading.» And adds: “Inside a book there is a light, you just have to know how to help turn it on.”

In this edition, there were 404 registered and 226 projects received belonging to schools, libraries, teacher training institutes, universities, cultural centers, hospitals, NGOs, companies and individuals under the following categories:

• Schools Category (96 projects): intended for reading promotion projects carried out by educational institutions of all levels, modalities and types of management.
• Society Category (130 projects): aimed at reading promotion projects carried out by popular libraries, civil associations, non-governmental organizations, individuals and other for-profit and non-profit institutions.

In addition, the Special Mention continues for projects that present an outstanding work of transmedia reading in any of the categories, called “Vera Rexach Award for reading in digital environments”in memory of who was promoter and jury of the Digital Environments category until 2019, the year of her death.

Two cash prizes will be awarded in each category:

• First prize: $400,000
• Second prize: $200,000

• And the Special Mention “Vera Rexach” awards $300,000

All winners will receive a collection of books to continue increasing the project presented and will be present at the awards ceremony at the International Book Fair in Buenos Aires.

Below are the winning projects of the 2026 edition:

Category Schools

First Prize:

“Readers Meetings: young people who read” – Laura Fabiana García

Technical Education Center No. 13

Choele Choel, Río Negro.

Second Prize:

“Paths of expression” – Paola Romina Glorio

EESO N° 211 “Dr. Féliz Pagani”

Cañada de Gómez, Santa Fe

Special mention:

“A path is made by narrating” – Vaitiara Villagran

Mother Mercedes Guerra Institute

Santiago del Estero

Special mention:

“The Upside Down Library” – Ariana Lisnevsky

“Cura Brochero” School

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Special mention:

“Curiosity laboratories: Scientific literacy in the First Cycle” – María Laura Agapito

Antonio del Viso Educational Center, Simón Bolívar Educational Center and “Province of Entre Ríos” Educational Center of Córdoba

Society Category

First Prize:

“Mobile Library at the Eva Perón Interzonal Children’s Hospital in Catamarca” – Paola Cristina Ferreyra

Eva Perón Interzonal Children’s Hospital Cooperating Association

Catamarca

Second Prize:

“Collective of readers” – Cecilia Bona

Why read

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Special mention:

“La Esperanza Popular Library – Reading and meeting for children from the El Palihue neighborhood”- Axel Nicolás Pereyra Berales

Villa Elvira, Buenos Aires

Special mention:

“The Literary House” – Mario Erkekdjian

San Isidro, Buenos Aires

Vera Rexach Special Mention in digital environments:

“Inclusive Club of Digital Writers “Digital Code” – Leandro Humberto Bassani

Digital Learning and Innovation Point – Secretariat of Human Development – ​​Municipality of Reconquista, Santa Fe.