At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2006 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts - made up of Mr. José Luis Álvarez, Mr. Fernando Argenta, Mr. Juan Cruz, Mr. Fernando Delgado, Ms. Isabel Falabella, Mr. Jorge Fernández Bustillo, Mr. José Luis Garci, Mr. Guillermo García-Alcalde, Mr. Jordi García Candau, Ms. Rosina Gómez-Baeza, Mr. Luis Hernando, Mr. Carlos Madera, Mr. Miguel Muñiz, Mr. Benigno Pendás García, Mr. Juan Ramón Pérez Las Clotas, Mr. Rodrigo Uría Meruéndano, Ms. Amelia Valcárcel, Mr. José Velasco, chaired by Mr. José Lladó Fernández-Urrutia and with Mr. José Antonio Caicoya as secretary - has decided to bestow the 2006 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts on Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodóvar for the ingenuity and sincerity of his films and the zest and vivacity of his screenplays, but particularly, for depicting his and our common roots as part of a global society that is on the verge of a nervous breakdown as it struggles to assimilate the turn of the century.

Oviedo, 17th May 2006