The International Fireworks Competition celebrates its 20th anniversary these Sanfermines. During these festivities, the most international edition of those projected so far will take place with five participants from Austria, Italy, France, Bulgaria, and Canada, who are also participating for the first time in this contest. These collections will skyrocket on even-numbered days of the holidays. There will be four others of national origin ( Álava, Alicante, Barcelona, and Valencia ), which can be seen on odd nights.
But it will not be their origins that are relevant, but the ingenuity and technique of their authors. In 2019 there will be high participation of pyrotechnic women since they account for a third of the nine shots. All of them will be foreign and come from Austria, France, and Italy. This year, for the fourth consecutive edition, the custom of greeting on the wall space called ‘Dominant Knight’, on the Royal Bastion, will be maintained to listen to the opinion of the public.
The fireworks nights of San Fermín are one of the most appreciated events of the official program that, for example, last year brought together more than 50,000 people every day. Again the shooting of the collections is scheduled at 11 pm; However, as in previous years, it will be necessary to take into account the departures or arrivals of the flights to the Noáin airport, so that the fireworks may suffer small delays.
RULES, AWARDS, JURIES, AND INVITED PERSONALITIES
The collections must fulfill two mandatory artistic achievements: 30 seconds of monitors with sound rhythms in red and white effects as a nod to the San Fermin dress and the second test of more artistic nature with asymmetrical creations and without having limited time. The contest is held for the fourth consecutive year under the direction of specialist Mikel Pagola Erviti.
The International Fireworks Competition has three awards in dispute: San Fermín de Oro, endowed with a trophy and 5,000 euros; San Fermín de Plata, trophy and 3,000 euros and San Fermín de Bronce, trophy and 2,000 euros. The statuettes are the work of the artist, Javier Muro. In addition, since 2018 the Consistory has made tools such as batteries and cannons available to powder buyers to reduce transport costs and facilitate storage in the Citadel.
Finally, as usual, on this occasion too, a personality from the pyrotechnic world has been invited. This year it will be Fernando Martínez Sotillos, former Director of Industry of the Government Delegation in the Valencian Community, already retired, since he has participated in the drafting of regulations on fireworks and is a highly appreciated specialist by the sector.
THE AUDIENCE AWARD
In addition, as is tradition, in this edition the Public’s Award, of an honorary nature, will also be awarded through voting that will last until 2:00 pm on July 16, 2019. Those who wish this year will be able to continue voting for their Favorite pyrotechnic show. There are two possible ways. In-person at the polls and ballots set up at Civivox Condestable, at the Tourist Office, and at the municipal slogan, as well as at the headquarters of Eroski and Diario de Navarra, sponsor and collaborator of this event, respectively.
Among the participants, gifts will be raffled: a tablet, 2 experience packs, 2 e-books, 2 speakers, 2 mini speakers, 3 activity bracelets, 2 Chrome Cast, wireless headphones, and a capsule coffee maker. The result of the draw will be made public the week following the end of the festivities.
THE PYROTECHNICS DESIGNERS
Since 2017, the fireworks competition in the presence of companies from other countries in the contest has been increasing to reinforce its contest philosophy and its international character. In this edition, for the first time, there will be more participants from outside of Spain so that they will be the majority group (five compared to four), so now it will be the nationals who are interspersed with the foreigners on the odd days of Sanfermines (7, 9, 11 and 13).
The foreign designers invited this year, who will shoot on even days, will be Manuela Rehak (from the FireEvent firm, from Austria, on Saturday 6), Frédérique Marmajou (from the Marmajou pyrotechnics, from France, on Monday 8), Cinzia Parente (owner of Parente Events, from Italy, on Wednesday the 10th), Peter Shishkov (from the Enigma company, from Bulgaria, on Friday the 12th) and François Kuma (from the Kuma company, from Canada, on Sunday the 14th). None of them have been to Pamplona before, except for the Italian Parente who came in 2002 with a different company.
In addition to these nine designers and companies, the twentieth edition of the Pamplona pyrotechnic contest involves other pyrotechnic firms that collaborate in various ways with the event: the Zaragoza (Zaragoza) and Caballer FX, Turís, and Nadal-Martí (Valencia) pyrotechnic houses.
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