The eight finalist posters have now been selected and the winner from these eight will become the official Sanfermin 2016 poster. Votes for the winning entry will come from citizens who are on the Pamplona census list and they can cast their vote in various ways: Votes may be cast up to the 18th of April through the Pamplona City Hall web page , and also by way of the City Hall Call Number for Citizen Attention 010 (948420100 – when calling from a cell phone or from outside Pamplona). It is also possible to cast a vote in person by visiting any one of the network of Civivox centers. In this latter case, the final day for voting is the 16th of April.
In 2016 the Sanfermin poster competition has had a novel jury composition. The eight finalists were chosen from among 376 entries by a technical jury composed of the Director of Culture, Linguistic Policies, Education and Sport, Maitena Muruzábal as well as the participation of different professionals namely, Leire Urbeltz,Antonio Laíta, Maite Canto and Iñaki Cabodevilla, from the fields of design, communication and Fine Arts. Also on the jury was: Javier Erice, the winner of last year’s competition and the municipal technician for Fine Arts.
Iñaki Cabodevilla, designer and member of the jury, has stated that in the selection process they purposely avoid going for “zeros and “10s” (maximum points) and rather preferred to go for an all-round evaluation of each piece which showed a certain level of competence, although this might be more of a “fives” evaluation. Reaching decisions was no easy task and the reasons for making the final choice often came down to the effort shown as well as the technical abilities, among other things. Above all, it was not a question of looking for and choosing only what looked like a winning poster at first glance.
Another member of the jury, Leire Urbeltz, pointed out that she was very pleased about the team work carried out by the jury which meant that a wide selection of works that offered more than just the classic themes of religion and bulls were evaluated. She went on to state that there were bulls and saints among the selected works, but also themes like, Basque, Women, Children and Equality.
According to figures released by Pamplona City Hall, “This year there were 376 entries. From these, 166 came from Pamplona, which comes to 44, 15% of the total – a percentage very similar to last year’s figure. From other locations within Navarra, 69 entries were submitted. In other words, entries from within the Province of Navarra totaled 235, – 62. 5% of the total entries. Of the remaining entries, 135 came from other provinces of Spain and just 6 were sent in from abroad, which comes to just 1,6% of the total.”
The significant drop in overall entries stands out in this year’s competition. With these 376 total of entries that means that there were 86 entries fewer than last year and 181 fewer than 2011 (the year with the highest entry figure over the last six years)
Participation over recent years
2016: 376
2015: 462
2014: 546
2013: 430
2011: 557
2010: 518
2009: 458
Finalist Posters 2016: