The ceremony, which is part of the Congress of the Americas on International Education (CAIE), unanimously recognized the impeccable career of the writer. Rectors from 3 universities presented the award.

The InterAmerican Award, which since 2012 has been presented within the framework of the CAIE, is dedicated to celebrating the achievements of distinguished personalities of the Americas with a recognized trajectory in favor of higher education, in the development of academic cooperation throughout the continent and in the strengthening of cultural ties between the different nations of the hemisphere, a distinction that also recognizes the work done in order to improve the welfare and living conditions of the peoples of our continent.

This year, the InterAmerican Prize was awarded to the renowned Mapuche poet, writer, and oralist, Elicura Chihuailaf, winner of the 2020 National Literature Prize.

The ceremony was led by the president of the Inter-American University Organization OUI, rector of the Universidad de Los Lagos, Óscar Garrido, who gave an account of the trajectory of this recognition, its importance and value in the Inter-American context and of those who have obtained it so far, highlighting the figure of the poet Chihuailaf as a source of pride.

“It is an honor for me and my colleagues to be in this very significant act with you Elicura and to make this recognition in the framework of the Congress of the Americas of International Education, Chile 2021”

The InterAmerican prize was nominated this year by the academic networks made up of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (Cruch), the Consortium of State Universities (Cuech), the G9 Network of Traditional Universities, the Corporation of Private Universities and the Network of the State Technical Training Center. The international committee unanimously approved the nomination based on the poet’s impeccable career.

The ceremony continued with a portrait of the poet by Carla Llamunao, professor of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Communications of the University of La Frontera, who showed the poet’s trajectory, the emphasis of his oral literature, and especially his particular way of communicating through letters.

The rector of the Catholic University of Temuco, Aliro Bórquez, and the rector of the University of La Frontera, Eduardo Hebel had words of recognition for the poet, distinguishing his career and his work, his connection with the ancestors, with the land, and with diversity.

The poet, Elicura Chihuailaf, concluded the ceremony by delivering a message of brotherhood and some reflections on the global community of knowledge, the central theme of the congress.

The rectors together with the academics who participated in the ceremony presented the poet with an award, a handmade figure, a kind of rehue carved from native wood inlaid with lapis lazuli and copper.