It has had different sponsors: the founders, the Cervantes Bookstore, the Asturian Center, the City Council of Oviedo (1986–2009) and the Tribuna Ciudadana cultural association.
The award was conceived with the aim of rewarding the best unpublished novella – regardless of whether the author was established or unknown – with input from Oviedo cultural figures such as Emilio Alarcos Llorach [es], Juan Benito Argüelles, Juan Cueto [es], José María Martínez Cachero [es], Belarmino Álvarez Otero, Jaime Herrero, and Pepe Grossi (who all joined the Tribuna Ciudadana cultural association which was instituted three years later).
In 1986, the Municipal Culture Foundation of the City Council took over the award, expanding its monetary prize and providing it with an organizational infrastructure in order to achieve a greater national presence.
Its winners were generally young (although the 26th edition was won by 74-year-old filmmaker and novelist José Luis Borau).
[3] Now the prize – a statuette inspired by an engraving by the Asturian artist Jaime Herrero and representing the character Tigre Juan[4] – is given in the autumn and has no financial endowment.