abertis has been awarded the Social Initiative Award for the photograph exhibition Paths of Emotions and for its support to the Special Olympic Games and to the families of the mentally handicapped people who participated in the event. The award was part of the “Family” Business and Institutional Awards, organised by the Group of Catalan Family Associations. The manager of Institutional Relations and Quality, Ricard Maxenchs, collected the prize on behalf of abertis from the Catalan Minister for Well Being and Family, Anna Simó, at an event which took place on June 20^th at the FIATC Auditorium.

The exhibition Paths of Emotions brings together photographs and sentences from the sportspeople – and their parents and trainers – who competed in the 7^th Special Olympics held in Badalona from June 10^th to 13^th last year. They help to concentrate the feelings and the emotions experienced throughout the Games. The exhibition was set up in the vestibule of a well-known Barcelona shopping centre, through which 600,000 people passed while the exhibition was installed there.

This show could also be seen in June at the Teatre de l’Amistat in Mollerussa, thanks to the cession that abertis made to the ACUDAM association in the capital of the Pla d’Urgell. The Paths of Emotions project is included as part of abertis’ corporate social responsibility actions, which gives priority to people, the environment and culture.

Apart from the exhibition, abertis was also actively involved in the organisation of the Special Olympics by sponsoring the route of the Olympic torch, which went through some of the capital Catalan cities. acesa’s athletics team accompanied the torch bearers on the various stages. These Games, which in their seventh edition had 2,000 sportspeople from 20 countries, have as their main objective to foster the personal development and integration of mentally handicapped people through sport.

It was the tenth edition of the “Family” Business and Institutional Awards. This initiative of the Group of Catalan Family Associations is to give awards to companies and organisations that combine their activity with offering patronage, sponsorship or aid to the family institution. The awards are divided into four categories: Patronage to Family Organisations, Family-Work Conciliation, Family Image and Social Initiative.