The Awards Jury Casa Asia 2025 has unanimously decided to award the following candidates in its four categories, after evaluating all the proposals submitted and in accordance with what is established in its bases:
- Ateneo Art Gallery and Museum of Spanish Abstract Art of Cuenca, as a joint nomination, in the Culture and Society category, for its great museum work around the work of the Filipino artist Fernando Zóbel. The Ateneo Art Gallery has been able to materialize Zóbel's vision of creating a museum dedicated to contemporary Filipino art, consolidating itself as a reference for Filipino art from the post-war period to the present day. For its part, the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español de Cuenca, founded by Zóbel, houses his collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphic works, as well as his personal library, his diaries and more than one hundred and thirty notebooks, which he donated to the Juan March Foundation, owner of the Museum and responsible for preserving his legacy.
- Association of Afghan Women in Spain (AMAE) and the Hospitalet Cricket Club equally, in the category of Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainable Development. To the Association of Afghan Women in Spain (AMAE) for its commendable work in supporting, integrating and empowering Afghan women refugees in Spain in a context of serious repression of their rights and freedoms in Afghanistan. Since its foundation, AMAE has developed various programs to facilitate the adaptation and integration of Afghan women, promoting their development as agents of change within their communities. To L'Hospitalet Cricket Club for its contribution to the empowerment of young people of Asian origin and to overcoming cultural and gender prejudices, in addition to its role in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialogue through sport. The club is the result of the educational project "El Criquet Uneix", a service-learning program that has been carried out in high schools in L'Hospitalet for the last eight years.
- LaLiga, in the category of Economy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for contributing to boosting the image of Spain in Asia through football, as well as promoting the integration of young Asians through sport by creating football schools and sports cities. China, India, Japan and Singapore have become key countries in La Liga's internationalisation strategy in Asia, which is carrying out important work for the development of football in the region.
- Center for Asian and African Studies (CEAA) of El Colegio de México in the Education and Science category, for its work in the field of teaching and research on Asian and Pacific studies in the Spanish language. Since its creation in 1964, the CEAA has become an essential bridge for dialogue between Latin America and the Asian and European continents. Among its contributions are two open-access academic journals, Estudios de Asia y África and the Anuario Asia Pacífico, which are references in their field. Likewise, the CEAA has played a crucial role in the creation of the Latin American Association of Asian and African Studies, which is at the forefront of promoting national and international academic conferences.
The Jury for these awards was made up of the following people: Emilio de Miguel, director of the Center Casa Asia Madrid, Shreyashee Nag, founder and director of Nupura International Centre of Performing Arts, David Doncel, president of the Spanish Association of East Asian Studies. University of Salamanca, Inmaculada Riera, director general of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Ángel Sala, director of the Sitges Film Festival.
The following people from the jury team have acted as secretaries of the jury (with voice and vote in their respective categories). Casa Asia: Menene Gras Balaguer in Culture and Society, Gaëlle Patin in Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainable Development, Amadeo Jensana in Economy and Business and Yasmin Paricio, in Education and Science.
This award was first established in 2004, and its main objective is to recognise and disseminate the work of entities, both public and private, and individuals who have distinguished themselves for their work in the economic, social, educational, cultural or development cooperation fields, promoting dignity and human rights in the Asia-Pacific region, and/or who contribute or have contributed to promoting knowledge, dialogue and relations between Spain and the Asia-Pacific region.
Previous winners of the awards include the philosopher and thinker Raimon Pannikar, the China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, the Spanish Network for the Coordination of NGOs for Development, the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum of Art, journalists Rosa Mª Calaf and Miguel Frau Rovira, the Malaysian NGO Sisters in Islam, sinologists Xulio Ríos and Dolors Folch, activists Fawzia Koofi (Afghanistan) and Masih Alinejad (Iran), the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the Barcelona-Ficomic Manga Fair and the Kairós publishing house.
The Awards Ceremony Casa Asia 2025 will be held this year at a date and place to be announced in advance.
Profile of the Winners
TheAteneo Art Gallery of the Manila University Museum of Contemporary Art (Ateneo de Manila University) continues and promotes Fernando Zóbel’s ambitious initiative to create a museum of contemporary Philippine art. Today, it is a key reference point for Philippine art from the post-war period to the present. This museum not only preserves artistic heritage, but also actively fosters emerging talent. Through the Ateneo Art Awards – Fernando Zóbel Visual Arts Awards, the gallery recognizes and promotes young visual artists, and therefore contributes to the continued development of the Philippine art scene.
Today, the Ateneo Art Gallery continues its mission of preserving, promoting and developing modern and contemporary Philippine art. In addition to its exhibitions, the gallery organizes the Ateneo Art Awards, which include the Fernando Zóbel Fine Arts Awards and the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Awards for Art Criticism, thereby fostering emerging artistic talent and art criticism in the Philippines.
El Museum of Abstract Art Spanish from Cuenca The museum was founded on the initiative of the artist Fernando Zóbel in 1966 and is located in the Hanging Houses, a very unique medieval building that forms part of the urban fabric of the old city of Cuenca. In 1981, Fernando Zóbel donated his collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphic works to the Juan March Foundation, as well as his personal library and a collection of his diaries and more than one hundred and thirty notebooks. Since then, the Foundation has been the owner of the museum and responsible for preserving and updating the legacy it has received, which it has enriched with its own funds and with new acquisitions.
TheAssociation of Afghan Women in Spain(AMAE) is a non-profit organization founded in March 2022, dedicated to supporting the integration and empowerment of Afghan refugee women in Spain. The association was created in response to the challenges these women face in their process of adaptation to a new society, especially in the context of the repression they suffer in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.
Since its creation, AMAE has developed a number of significant programs and activities to facilitate the integration of its members. Its initiatives include a coaching program to strengthen the leadership skills of the women on its board of directors, as well as the management of housing for refugees in collaboration with TuTecho, which addresses one of the biggest obstacles they face when arriving in Spain.
The association has also implemented intensive Spanish courses, essential for overcoming language barriers and facilitating labour and social integration. In addition, it offers psychological care to support the emotional well-being of refugee women, recognising the importance of mental health in the adaptation process.
AMAE is chaired by Sunita Nasir Tareen, a civil engineer with more than ten years of experience in sustainable urban development and training of women at the United Nations. Currently, the association has more than 250 Afghan women among its members and has established collaborations with academic institutions such as Comillas University and UNED to carry out support and training projects.
L'Hospitalet Cricket Club (L'HCC) was created in 2009 as a sports entity in La Torrassa neighbourhood thanks to the initiative of a group of Indian origin residents. Although the club disappeared in 2014, the neighbourhood still had many cricket fans.
Since 2016, the “Aprenentatge-Servei” project has been launched in some of the city’s high schools through the "El Criquet Uneix" project, with the aim of breaking down cultural and gender prejudices and promoting social cohesion and coexistence through the practice of this sport.
The impact of the project was so positive that, in the spring of 2023, the Catalan Cricket Federation contacted the Institut Rubió i Ors to propose the creation of two cricket teams, one for men and one for women. The players began to train regularly and very actively during extracurricular hours, which opened up the possibility of reactivating the Club.
In the summer of 2023, L'Hospitalet Cricket Club was reopened, a club with an educational, social and sporting spirit and impact that promotes coexistence and social cohesion in this municipality in the province of Barcelona through the practice of Cricket.
The Spanish League, officially known as LaLiga, is the highest category of professional football in Spain. It was founded in 1929 and has evolved to become one of the most prominent and followed football competitions worldwide.
Throughout its history, LaLiga has established itself as one of the most prestigious competitions thanks to the talent of its iconic players and the track record of historic clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, among others. Its influence and prestige position it as a benchmark in global football, attracting both the best footballers and millions of fans from around the world.
In recent years, LaLiga has stepped up its presence in Asia as part of its internationalisation strategy. With offices in key countries such as China, India and Singapore, it is actively working to bring Spanish football closer to Asian fans. Its initiatives include organising promotional events, broadcasting matches at times accessible to local audiences and forming strategic alliances with companies and sponsors in the region.
In addition, LaLiga promotes training projects and football academies for young people, promoting the development of local talent through techniques and methodologies inspired by the Spanish model. It also collaborates with local sport federations and clubs to strengthen infrastructure and create growth opportunities in Asian football. This expansion not only increases LaLiga's visibility, but also fosters a cultural and sporting exchange between Spain and Asia, consolidating its position as a truly global league.
The Colegio de México is a public institution, of a university nature, dedicated to research and higher education in social sciences and humanities, and is one of the most outstanding in the Hispanic world, for which it has received numerous awards since its founding in 1940 to the present, such as the Prince of Asturias Award in Social Sciences in 2001.
El Centre for Asian and African Studies at El Colegio de México (CEAA) is an academic unit of great disciplinary richness, as it houses perspectives and studies from both the humanities and the social sciences. In addition, with regard to Asia, it focuses on four geocultural areas: China, Japan, South Asia and Southeast Asia. The master's program has two basic axes: the history and the language of the area of specialization, fundamental elements for forging a true specialist in any of these regions.
The Asian languages currently offered by CEAA are: Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia. These subjects are complemented by thematic monographic and theoretical courses. This training in area studies is also broadened by incorporating methodological courses of various kinds, intended to provide students with disciplinary tools.
The lines of research of CEAA professors include: philological studies and translation of primary sources; historiography, ancient history and problems of modern and contemporary history; international relations and national and international security; history of religions, thought and ideas; and specific anthropological and sociological studies.
The CEAA also has two of its own academic journals in Spanish: Estudios de Asia y África and the Anuario Asia Pacífico, which are open access. Estudios de Asia y África, in electronic and paper format, has published more than one hundred and seventy issues since 1966. It is characterized by publishing different types of unpublished research by authors and specialists from Latin America and Spain, but also from other countries around the world. Although it publishes in Spanish, it also receives proposals in English, Portuguese and French.
