El Día E 2010 was a success!

¡Hola a todos! Instituto Cervantes de Manila would like to thank everyone for celebrating El Diá del Español! Last Saturday, June 19th, here at the Instituto grounds! The event was made bigger and better than the preceding year with the inclusion of El Juego del Español, outrageous prizes and so much more.

The program kicked off with the balloon drop, lluvia de palabras, where Spanish words were launched into the air with certain special words winning very special prizes; either a pastry with a Spanish word on it, come palabras, or a camiseta gratis. It continued with the palabras vivas, our very own version of Instituto's Got Talent wherein performers presented their skills based on a chosen Spanish word. With our very own panel of judges, it made for a very entertaining spectacle.

The place was packed with students, professors and all-around friends of the Spanish language. Similar to last year's celebration, with a new reincarnation of palabra que dura where the walls were once again decorated with cartoons and speech bubbles. This year's edition took inspiration from Saturday morning newspaper comics. ¿Qué chulo, no?

The fotos finalístas top 100 found themselves displayed during El Día E itself. Our ganadora for the Word Hunt in the City won a digital camera from Fuji for the word Maldita. El Día E ended with the grand finale of El Juego del Español, with a final match between two female students from Instituto Cervantes, with a trip to Andalucía at stake, the pressure was palpable. In the end, a winner was chosen; whittled down from a grand total of 144 participants. She will receive a week, all-expense paid, trip to the south of Spain. ¡Qué tengas buen viaje, chica!

Y tú, ¿qué opinas? ¡Hasta el año que viene!