On October 8, 2026, the Ayuntamiento de Piélagos was recognized in the 2026 edition of the María Moliner Reading Promotion Project Competition, organized by the Ministry of Culture, thanks to an initiative presented by its municipal library network. The Councillor for Culture, Carmen Bedoya, explained that Piélagos' proposal received a score of 78 out of 100, placing the municipality among the top-rated projects of this edition and allowing it to be included in the list of beneficiaries of the prestigious María Moliner program.
Bedoya announced that the awarded funding, amounting to €2,777.77, will be used to further promote reading initiatives and enhance the municipal libraries in Renedo (Francisco Sota), Mortera (Condes de la Mortera), and Francisco Llata (Liencres). She emphasized that the score achieved is particularly significant due to the high level of participation and competition in the competition. “Piélagos has stood out for the evaluation of its project in areas such as the initiative's interest, clarity of its proposal, impact, collaboration, and public library statistics, achieving an overall score that places it among the top positions in the ranking,” the councillor noted.
Bedoya highlighted that the María Moliner recognition underscores the work carried out by the municipal libraries of Piélagos and the efforts made to bring reading closer to residents of all ages, encourage citizen participation, and transform libraries into dynamic spaces for meeting, culture, and learning.
A National Competition
The María Moliner Reading Promotion Project Competition, organized by the Ministry of Culture, annually recognizes the best initiatives developed by municipalities with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants to foster reading habits and enhance the role of public libraries in their communities. For this reason, the Culture Councillor stated that receiving this recognition provides a new impetus to continue developing activities and projects that promote access to culture and solidify the libraries of Piélagos as reference spaces within the municipality.
“Thanks to all the people who have collaborated on this project, because a library is never built solely with books, but with the people who fill it with life every day,” the councillor asserted. In fact, Bedoya emphasized that this is a project for the entire community: for those who read, those who participate, those who teach, those who support, and those who continue to believe in culture as a meeting place. The Culture Councillor expressed her conviction that “a library is not just a building; it is memory, future, imagination, and community, and it is a space that transforms with every shared story and with every person who crosses its doors.”
