Aida dos Santos wins Spain's 2026 National Essay Prize for book on suburban working-class women

The 2026 award

Spain's Ministry of Culture announced on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, that writer and political scientist Aida dos Santos won the National Essay Prize for her book 'Hijas del hormigón: historias de clasismo, sexismo y violencia en las periferias españolas'. Published by the Debate imprint, the official prize carries a cash endowment of 30,000 euros following the jury's meeting in Madrid. María José Gálvez, the director general for books, comics, and reading at the ministry, presided over the jury, while Jesús González, the subdirector general for the promotion of books, reading, and Spanish letters, acted as vice president. The selection panel included delegates from several regional language academies, such as Dolores Corbella Díaz from the Real Academia Española, Lourenzo Fernández Prieto from the Real Academia Galega, and Adolfo Arejita Oñarte-Etxebarria from Euskaltzaindia.

The jury commended the work for its focus on the workers who sustain basic infrastructure from urban margins.

its enriching, daring and original way of addressing the reality of those who, from the periphery, sustain the essential sectors of our social and economic fabric

Research on urban margins

The winning volume combines historical analysis with direct field investigations, linking post-war residential developments with rural migration, gender, and social stratification. Dos Santos built the core of the project around oral testimonies gathered from women who lived in the working-class districts described in the book. Alongside these firsthand accounts, the text presents a critical assessment of how the Spanish working class has been depicted in wider national culture. The evaluation panel noted that the narrative avoids fatalistic portrayals while challenging traditionally masculine interpretations of labour history.

In its formal resolution, the panel described how the volume transforms specific personal histories into a broader social inquiry.

combats misery-focused narratives and the traditionally masculine view of the working class. In this way, the work turns the individual testimonies of suburban female workers into a profound collective reflection that demonstrates the intersection between racism, classism, violence, and sexism in contemporary logics of exclusion

Academic profile and background

Born in the Algarve region of Portugal in 1992, Dos Santos completed her degree in Political Science at the Complutense University of Madrid. She works professionally as an applied social research technician and data analyst, maintaining a career rooted in empirical field research. Her writing functions as a direct extension of this academic investigation, examining spatial segregation alongside class and gender marginalization. Before receiving this national honor, Dos Santos won the CEDEJEM prize for European essays on two separate occasions. She has also contributed analytical pieces and commentary to multiple Spanish news organizations.

Prize lineage and recognition

The National Essay Prize is awarded annually by the Spanish government to recognize analytical contributions to Spanish literature and thought. In 2025, the Ministry of Culture conferred the award upon essayist Remedios Zafra. Earlier recipients of the distinction include Joan-Carles Mèlich Sangrà, Ramón Andrés, Irene Vallejo, Alfredo González-Ruibal, Xosé Manuel Núñez Seixas, María Jesús Lama, Gonzalo Pontón, and Adela Cortina. The 2026 panel noted that the text constitutes an embodied and necessary examination of social exclusion that urges prompt public analysis of problems that remain systematically ignored.