Alba Brualla, Soledad García, Sandra López and Rocío Ruiz, winners of the 1st Vía Célere Awards for Real Estate Journalism

Alba Brualla, from El Economista, Soledad García Garrido, from Metros2, Sandra López Letón, from El País and Rocío Ruiz, from Expansión, were the winners of the 1st Edition of the Vía Célere Awards for Real Estate Journalism. Theirs were the winning candidacies from the 76 that were presented in written and audiovisual format. The announcement was made today at an awards ceremony that took place in the Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado auditorium, at the Vía Célere headquarters during which they were able to collect their trophies and the € 2,000 of prize money per category.

The joint winning articles in the corporate category were “Is there Demand in Spain for 140,000 new houses a year? ” by Alba Brualla, journalist for El Economista and editor of the real estate magazine of the economic newspaper, and “2018: An Odyssey in the Home ” by Soledad García Garrido, editor-in-chief of the specialized publication Metros2. Both articles have been selected, among the 31 articles in this category, for the in-depth analysis of the sector they carried out, pointing to future forecasts, in the first case, and delving into the key events of 2018, in the second. For Alba Brualla, this award is the recognition of the intensive work involved in transmitting the current issues the real estate sector, while at the same time, representing some extra hope for the future. Soledad García Garrido, for her part, stated that she appreciated this recognition, especially considering how important it is to highlight the work of the media as enhancers of transparency in real estate activity.

In the innovation category, the winner was Sandra López Letón, a journalist from El País, for her article “The World Surrenders to Wooden Skyscrapers”, which was selected among the 23 participating pieces of writing, and which explained the advantages of this type of construction and how it is consolidating in various countries throughout the world. Sandra López Letón, like her award-winning colleagues, wanted to thank the jury for its work and has admitted that she “has been very excited” to receive this recognition, especially after dedicating more than 20 years to a sector that she is passionate about.

With regards to the sustainability category, the winning article was “The Green Economy, the New ‘Boom’ in Real Estate” by Rocío Ruiz, a journalist from

Expansion specializing in the real estate sector, beating the 21 other candidacies. In her piece, the journalist described the initiatives that the main Spanish real estate companies were carrying out to increase their sustainability. Rocío Ruiz, wanted to dedicate a few words to all her colleagues, confirming that thanks to everyone’s work, the quality of Spanish real estate journalism has greatly improved, having managed to build an image that is in line with the reality of a sector which is now transparent, professional and sustainable.

The four pieces have been selected by the members of the jury due to the depth of their analysis, the innovative character of the topics covered, the quality of the writing, the sources, and their informative nature. “These awards demonstrate the great work done by journalists in the real estate sector on a daily basis and the magnificent standard present in the Spanish press. Thanks to their efforts, all Spaniards are informed of the multiple activities that companies in the sector carry out, as well as more complex aspects related to innovations and sustainability, “said José Ignacio Morales Plaza, CEO of Vía Célere, during the award ceremony. With these awards we want to reward their work and continue promoting the transformation and modernization of the real estate sector, increasing its transparency and promoting the dissemination of knowledge and innovations.

Themes dealt with, in the corporate sphere, have seen the predomination of the general analyses of the housing market situation, especially during the third quarter of 2019, but there has also been room for more specific topics such as the new mortgage law, corporate operations, the entry of the developers in Build to Rent and social housing.

In the field of innovation, the most recurring theme in the articles has been industrialization as a new construction process, although training topics, new trends in design and architecture, and new residential and office concepts such as co-working have also been discussed.

Finally, in terms of sustainability, the topics have been very diverse, ranging from sustainable energy and green mortgages to diversity in employment or access to housing.