VALLADOLID, March 23, 2025 - Juan Antonio Prieto, a member of the AIPS Executive Committee, has been elected as the new first vice president of the Spanish Sports Press Association (AEPD) during the organization’s 61st Congress, held in Valladolid. At the same session, Jesús Álvarez was elected new president of the Spanish Sports Journalists Association.

Álvarez has spent his entire professional career at Televisión Española, where he has presented sports news for the past 35 years, becoming a well-known and respected professional. For the past 12 years, he had held the position of first vice president on the Board of Directors chaired by his predecessor, Julián Redondo. During the Congress, Juan Antonio Prieto, a member of the AIPS Executive Committee, was awarded the AEPD Gold Badge for his long career as a director of this organization, spanning almost 30 years.

The new AEPD board of directors includes several well-known sports journalists, such as Cristina Cubero, deputy editor of El Mundo Deportivo; Tomás Roncero, deputy editor of AS; Carlos Carpio, deputy editor of MARCA; and Lourdes García Campos, athletics commentator for TVE. The AEPD is the only organization of sports journalists in Spain and currently brings together more than 2,300 professionals from across the country.

Coinciding with the 61st Congress, the AEPD held its 54th National Sports Gala in Valladolid, where the best Spanish athletes and clubs of the past year were honoured. Honourees included Ilia Topuria, UFC world champion; The Spanish men's national football team, Euro 2024 champions; the women's national football team, which won the UEFA Nations League; Real Madrid, which claimed its 15th Champions League; the national women's water polo team, which won gold at Paris 2024; the Paris 2024 gold medallists (Diego Botín, Florian Tritel, Jordan Díaz, and María Pérez); and canoeist Saúl Craviotto, among others.

At the Gala, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco Bravo, presented a plaque of recognition to Julián Redondo for his 12-year tenure at the helm of the AEPD.