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INPRIMATU
The Meritorious Light Award: The Songs of Mine
  • For its work and success in promoting the Basque language among the youngest in fifteen years, the Prize of Meritorious Light has been awarded to the project Ene Kantak. The award was presented by Nerea Urbizu, Fermin Sarasa and Jesus Irujo.
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Ezkerretik eskuinera: Jesus Irujo. Nerea Urbizu eta Fermin Sarasa. Dani Blanco / ARGIA CC BY-SA

These are the reasons why the song has been awarded:

"It all started fifteen years ago in Navarre. Just as children in large languages enjoy it as normal, the songs and videos created for Basque children began to be uploaded to YouTube. Record video clips in schools and up. From the beginning it was very well received, especially among the Basque children of Navarre, and since then this project has experienced an exponential increase.

They have uploaded more than 250 videos, have 76,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 100 million views. In other words, the children of the Basque Country have seen their videos 100 million times. Ten albums and four books have been published, and eight shows have been performed in theatres. A sign of the success they have achieved, they were also signed by ETB for ETB3 and for five seasons they have given more than 1,250 episodes.

Here's what they say: "We are creating a community that gives importance to our language, because we want Basque in our homes and in the hearts of our children, Basque to be their own."