Mexicali poet Jorge Arturo Ortega was one of the two winners of the Gilberto Owen National Literature Prize 2022.

The award was announced by Sinaloa Institute of Culture Juan Avilés, who said the prize was selected by a jury.

Ortega won 125,000 pesos or over $6,000.

The Mexicali poet contested under the pseudonym Patti Smith with his book, “Hotel del Universo” in Spanish or hotel of the universe.

Jury members Yendi Ramos, María Baranda and Mijail Lamas called Ortega’s work as “an imaginative work, with an interesting thematic diversity that fragments the anecdotal story” and a “commitment to a formal renewal of the prose poem and the construction of an original syntax.”

“Obtaining this National Award is a great honor, because it is a contest that has been won by beloved and admired poets of our country, and that bears the name of one of the great poets of Mexico, to whom I have read carefully, also summoned by a state with which I am united not only by literary relations but also by very solid friendships, for which I am very happy to obtain it,” Ortega commented in turn.

In total, around 80 works were received in each genre.

Ortega will receive the prize in a ceremony yet to be scheduled in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Mario Sánchez Carbajal, of Mexico City, also won the 2022 Gilberto Owen National Literature Prize in the short story genre.