The 2009 edition of the "Rei en Jaume" Awards has beaten all participation records, with a total of 287 artistes within the different categories: art work ; comic ; narrative ; poetry and investigation.  The total number of participants this year surpasses that of 2007, when there was a total of 277 artistes.

After a slight decrease in participation in 2008, the competition organised by the Culture Department of Calvià Town Hall, has made a recovery this year, continuing the steady increase of the past years, during which Carlos Delgado's government team has introduced significant changes in order to enhance the awards, which are some of the most important in the Balearic Islands.

One of the first improvements was to create an art work category, which encompasses several artistic fields ranging from painting to sculpture to photography, audiovisual creations, film work and editing etc.  In 2006, Castilian Spanish was incorporated in the narrative/poetry category.  In the past, this had been exclusively in Catalan.  This has resulted in a notable increase in participants from outside the islands.  Last year a step was taken towards the Internationalisation of the Awards with the creation of a category for poetry in English.

With regard to this year, the art work category continues to be the most popular with a  total of 163 artistes, compared with 108 in 2008.  This is followed by poetry, with 75 entries - 41 in Castilian Spanish, 20 in Catalan and 14 in English.  Then there are 32 artistes in the narrative category - 22 in Castilian Spanish and 10 in Catalan, and finally, 14 entries in the comic category and 3 in investigation.

The prize-giving ceremony for the 2009 "Rei en Jaume" Awards will be held on Friday, 28^th August at the Hotel H10-Punta Negra (Son Caliu), at 20.00h.  As in previous years, the competition will be sponsored by  Taylor Woodrow.