The members of the Jury for the 1982 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, Manuel Alvar López, Camilo José Cela, Antonio Gala, José Hierro and Fernando Lázaro Carreter and Juan Rulfo, gathered in Oviedo on the 20th and 21st of April, 1982, under the presidency of Pedro Laín Entralgo and with Emilio Alarcos Llorach acting as secretary, have agreed to grant this award simultaneously to Mr. Miguel Delibes Setién and to Mr. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester.

The Jury, in rewarding these two great writers, wishes to make clear its admiration for the work of each of them, so different from each other and yet, so profoundly expressive about contemporary Spanish reality, observed in very significant spaces, with singular love and fidelity. In both cases their capacity of invention and description has been displayed in a masterful control of the Spanish language, which guarantees their survival in the history of Spanish literature.