To this end, since 1983 it has been running an extensive annual programme of prizes and grants in various categories, which are awarded to candidates, with a view to stimulating educational and training activities among young people. In addition to awards made to employees of Abengoa and other companies belonging to the Group and to their spouses, children and orphans, there are also competitions that are open to the general public. Prizes and grants awarded to Abengoa employees In accordance with its articles of incorporation, the Foundation awarded prizes and grants to employees of Abengoa S.A. and its subsidiaries and to their spouses, children and orphans for the academic year 2001-2002. One thousand three hundred and twenty-four grants for different levels of education were awarded to seven hundred and ninety-one families in Spain and Latin America, including grants for special-education students. The amount allocated by the Foundation for these grants amounted to over one hundred and fifty-six thousand euro. Awards totalling 8,900 euro were also made for the successful completion of studies, further studies abroad, summer courses abroad to study a foreign language, further studies for vocational training students, results achieved in professional upgrading training programmes and courses and research grants. Based on the candidates' merits, Patricia Garduño Rodríguez and José María Muñoz Bravo were awarded first and second prize respectively for the successful completion of studies in the secondary-education category; Rocío Romero Sánchez and José Rufo Jiménez, in the Bachillerato category; Miguel Angel Castillo Ostos and Nieves Santana Galisteo, in the category of second-grade vocational training or further vocational training; Andrea Bromundt and José Manuel Massé Tubío, in the category of university graduates with three-year degrees; and David Sánchez Pérez and María Valerio Sáinz, in the category of university graduates with degrees of five years or more. The research grant was awarded to Alberto Hernández Moreno for his work entitled La Isla y el Laberinto (The island and the labyrinth) (joint work by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares). The jury was presided by Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo, and the other jury members were Luis de Medina y Fernández de Córdoba, Anabel Morillo León, Pedro Muñoz González, Miguel Angel Olalla Mercadé, Jesús Pérez Rodríguez and Manuel Porras Sánchez. Prizes for results achieved in professional upgrading training programmes and courses were awarded to Milagros Ramón Jerónimo and to Francisco Javier Martínez Fernández. The jury was presided by Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo, and the jury members were Luis de Medina y Fernández de Córdoba, Anabel Morillo León, Pedro Muñoz González, Miguel Angel Olalla Mercadé and Jesús Pérez Rodríguez. Prize for the best doctoral thesis on a subject related to Seville The prize, which was first awarded in 1983, has grown steadily in prestige and stature over the years. In 1987 it was decided that, in addition to a cash prize of 3,000 euro, the winning thesis would also be published, with the approval of the Foundation's Governing Board, in order to enhance the social significance of the award. The prize for the best doctoral thesis on a subject related to Seville submitted in the academic year 2001-2002 was awarded to Luis Méndez Rodríguez for his work entitled Velázquez y la cultura sevillana (Velázquez and Sevillian culture). The jury was presided by Santiago Grisolía, and the other jury members were José Enrique Ayarra Jarne, Antonio Miguel Bernal Rodríguez, Vicente Lleó Cañal, Ramón Queiro Filgueira, Jaime Rodríguez Sacristán and Enrique Valdivieso González. Prize for Painting The Foundation's interest in contemporary art from its earliest beginnings led to the creation of a painting competition as an incentive to established artists and as a means of promoting younger painters. The competition was held once again in 2002 and was entered by around three hundred artists from Spain, other European Union countries and Latin America. Entrants spanned several generations of professionals, testifying to the prestige attained in this area of cultural activity. It was no easy task for the specialist jury, presided by Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, on the unanimous decision of the other jury members, Juan Carrete Parrondo, Manuel Sánchez Arcenegui and Gustavo Torner de la Fuente, to select the 21 finalists to be exhibited at the end of the year at the Hospital de los Venerables or to decide who should win the first prize of 24,000 euro and the two special mentions that come with a cash prize of 6,000 euro each. After long consideration, they decided on Páramo by José Manuel Núñez Arias, who is from Castropol in Asturias and was born in 1949, for his coherent approach and execution, which, on the basis of a realist vision, achieves a universally valid effect of abstraction. The special mentions went to Javier Buzón Fernández, who is from Seville and was born in 1959, for his work Nocturno 21, and to Manuel Martínez Vela, who is from Alcalá la Real in Jaén and was born in 1958, for his painting Silencio Negro.