Empire Rising: Spain

Carlo plans to make a one-time investment of 25 million Pesseta into the operation company of the award. The operation company will use these funds for investment, and the income earned will be used to distribute the annual prizes.

After deducting the first year’s prizes and some advertising expenses, the operation company will still have nearly 20 million Pesseta available for use.

Such a large sum of money used for investing in industry and finance, under the current fast-developing environment of Spain, can easily earn several million Pesseta each year.

Especially by investing in industries with great potential, it’s very possible to double the investment in just a few years.

After operating like this for a few years, the operation company will have enough funds to distribute the annual prizes, and the remaining funds can be used to maintain the operation of the award.

Even if the currency depreciates in the future, the operation company can maintain the appeal of the award by increasing the prizes.

In a few years, the Carlo Award can easily become a world-renowned scientific award, with each presentation attracting the attention of numerous countries and scientific workers.

Any scientist who wins the award will instantly become highly sought after, with countries and large corporations competing to recruit them.

To make the Carlo Award famous, since the end of the Ashanti War, the media controlled by the Spanish Royal Family has been vigorously promoting this newly established award.

If it weren’t for the heat being diverted by the Triple Alliance and the assassination incident of the President of the United States, the Carlo Award might already be well known by many Europeans at this time.

Even so, in several countries surrounding Spain, the Carlo Award has already become a hot topic and attracts much attention from those in scientific research fields.

To quickly establish the award’s fame, all six categories of prizes have been publicly announced. While the public might only be amazed at the abundance of prizes offered by the Spanish Royal Family, quite a number of scientists in the research community have already been conspicuously active.

Simply winning the final prize can earn this prize money, which is a significant income for scientists desperate for research funding and those from impoverished backgrounds.

Since Spain initiated the publicity campaign, in less than a month, over 1,000 scientists have registered to participate in the Carlo Award selection.

It’s worth mentioning that the prize category with the most registrations is paradoxically the Literary Prize, which is related to the many cultural universities in Spain.

Before Carlo became King of Spain, most universities in Spain focused on cultural disciplines, and there were very few science-related universities for subjects like math, physics, and chemistry.

Although there have been significant changes, those writers trained by cultural universities won’t disappear out of thin air.

Upon discovering the generous prizes of the Carlo Award, these people impatiently enrolled their works in the award selection, aiming for the Literary Prize.

Relatively, winning a Literary Prize might be easier. However, considering the sheer number of entrants for the Literary Prize, the intense competition actually increases the difficulty of winning it.

Considering that among these entrants for the Literary Prize are numerous literary giants, winning the first Carlo Award’s Literary Prize could be just as challenging as other prizes, if not more so.

After all, the selection of cultural awards is inherently uncertain, and in such fierce competition, anyone potentially could win the final prize.

On the contrary, the Physics Prize and Chemistry Prize, with fewer entrants, might not be as difficult to win ultimately.

Currently, the main entrants are scholars and scientists from Spain and nearby countries, as only these nearby countries can deliver letters within less than a month.

At this time, there is no internet; the method for registering and participating is by mailing a letter, introducing their works and research results, and then waiting for further review by the jury.

Also because both the registering to participate and the review take a long time, even though the award was established early in the year, Carlo placed the final award ceremony at year’s end.

The Carlo Award ceremony every year will take place on the last day of December, and the registration for the next year’s awards will begin the day after the ceremony, which is the first day of every year.

Taking a full year for registration and review ensures that the award-winning works are authentic and genuine.

The Carlo Award is a prize used by Spain to attract a large amount of talent, and Carlo wouldn’t allow any cheating in the award selection.

At least on the surface, the award selection must be fair and just, with no unfair treatment of anyone.

Of course, due to distance reasons, currently, only the public within Europe can register to participate.

Although the United States also has many writers and scientific workers, their registration takes more time, clearly not keeping pace with the first Carlo Award ceremony.

Luckily, for the second Carlo Award, registration can start on the first day of the new year, so Americans can still catch up with the registration for the second Carlo Award.

Since the establishment of the Carlo Award, daily, a huge amount of letters is sent to the address of the jury.

For the jury, they hardly have any leisure time. Their work is quite arduous, not only needing to verify the authenticity of the works and research results in these letters but also to evaluate these works and research results to select the most outstanding work to win the final prize.

The stage of verifying authenticity alone requires a long time, while the stage of selecting the most outstanding works and research results takes comparatively less time.

Since the official announcement of this award, Spain has also been warming up for the year’s end award ceremony.

Only by having those awardees receive widespread attention, even from the entire European public, can they experience the supreme sense of honor and achievement, feeling privileged for winning.

This can also spark more interest from scholars and scientists in registering and participating in the award, allowing Spain to continuously select from these scholars and scientists.

Though only six people win the awards each year, this doesn’t mean the Spanish Government can only connect with these six award winners.

For other scientists whose research results, though not award-winning, have some utility, the Spanish Government will also make connections.

Talent is something that no country can have enough of. This not only signifies having one more talent on your side but also signifies one less talent on your enemy’s side.

Through continuous accumulation of talent, Spain can gain advantages in scientific research, thereby promoting progress in various industries and sectors.

Carlo mainly focuses on the review progress in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and medicine. Medicine, of course, does not need further explanation, as this is the foundation for Carlo to improve the medical environment he can enjoy.

And the industries and projects related to the fields of math, physics, and chemistry are numerous, including the electric power industry and the automotive industry, which are key development focuses of Spain.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that to some extent, the number of math, physics, and chemistry talents a country possesses can also determine the strength and weakness of the country.

By accumulating enough talents in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, progress in industries related to these fields can be driven. Military, light and heavy industry, as well as the chemical industry, are all related to math, physics, and chemistry, and such talents are the foundation of industrial progress.

Up to now, the promotion of the Carlo Award by Spain has been quite successful.

Although the majority of the registrants are from the literary field, there are also quite a few scientists. Many have submitted their most outstanding research achievements in math, physics, and chemistry for evaluation, and these research outcomes include foundational theories and experiments for those industries.

For the jury, choosing the most outstanding one from these impactful research results is no less challenging than choosing the best from literary works.

Carlo is also quite concerned about the review progress of the jury and has issued his instructions.

Regardless of whether the finally awarded literary works and scientific projects are the most outstanding, these works and projects must first gain the recognition of the European public.

If the ultimately selected works and scientific projects fail to gain public recognition, then it proves that this award has failed from the very beginning.

Only by gaining public recognition and credibility can the award successfully run its course.

Otherwise, no matter how high the prize of the Carlo Award, the public will lose interest in such a non-credible award.

How to select the most recognized work and scientific project from all the registered entries poses a substantial challenge for the jury.