The work Jacobean credentials has been recognized with the 2026 Pentafinium Prize in the Literature category. Among its authors is Valeriano Teja Oruña, president of Pilgrims for Cantabria and the Group of Associations of the Northern Paths.
The Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Camino de Santiago has announced the Pentafinium Awards 2026, triennial awards designed to recognize works and careers that contribute significantly to the knowledge, care and dissemination of the Jacobean pilgrimage.
In the Literature category, the recognition has gone to Jacobean credentials, a work published in 2025 and signed by Valeriano Teja Oruña, Francesc Suárez, Fernando Lalanda and Lluïsa Blanch.
The award highlights research focused on one of the most recognizable elements of the modern pilgrim: the credential.
An award for an unusual work
The credential accompanies the pilgrim throughout the journey. It is sealed in hostels, churches, bars, associations, tourist offices and other points along the Camino, and ends up becoming one of the most personal memories of the pilgrimage.
However, despite its importance, its history has received much less attention than other aspects of the Jacobean phenomenon.
Precisely there lies a good part of the interest of Jacobean credentials.
The work brings together and studies credentials from different periods, origins and routes, offering a historical look at a document that has evolved along with the Camino de Santiago itself.
Valeriano Teja, a trajectory linked to the Camino
Among the authors of the work is Valeriano Teja Oruña, president of Pilgrims for Cantabria and the Group of Associations of the Northern Paths.
His career is deeply linked to the study, defense and promotion of the Jacobean routes, especially in the north of Spain.
Over the years he has participated in research, publications, conferences and projects related to heritage, history and the recovery of pilgrimage routes.
The Pentafinium Award recognizes a specific work, but also values the work of those who have spent decades dedicated to preserving and disseminating Jacobean culture.
A work by four authors
Jacobean credentials It is the result of the joint work of four researchers and disseminators linked to the world of the Camino.
Valeriano Teja shares authorship with Francesc Suárez, Fernando Lalanda and Lluïsa Blanch.
The result is a documentary and visual compilation that allows us to observe how the credentials have changed, who issued them and what role they have played in the evolution of contemporary pilgrimage.
Each credential tells a little story.
Its stamps show the places visited, its design reflects an era and the institutions that issued them allow us to better understand how the Jacobean world has been organized.
Much more than a paper with stamps
For those who have completed the Camino de Santiago, the credential has a value that goes far beyond its practical function.
It starts almost empty.
Then the first stamps appear.
As the days go by, the document becomes a kind of diary of the journey.
When the pilgrim arrives in Santiago, that piece of paper summarizes a good part of the experience.
But in addition to their emotional value, credentials also have enormous historical interest.
They allow you to study routes, associations, shelters, institutions and ways of understanding the pilgrimage at different times.
Cantabria and the Caminos del Norte, present in the award
The presence of Valeriano Teja among the award-winning authors also represents indirect recognition of the work carried out over the years in Cantabria and on the northern routes.
Pilgrims through Cantabria maintain a long history linked to the promotion, research and conservation of the Camino del Norte, the Camino Lebaniego and other historical routes.
The Group of Associations of the Northern Paths also works on the defense and dissemination of these itineraries.
The award once again places Cantabria and the Caminos del Norte within the national panorama of Jacobean research and culture.
A small document that tells a big story
Perhaps one of the greatest merits of Jacobean credentials It means having focused on something that thousands of pilgrims carry in their pockets every year.
The credential seems simple.
But behind it there are decades of history, associations, hospitality, routes and millions of kilometers walked.
Studying its evolution is also studying how modern pilgrimage has changed.
For this reason, the Pentafinium Prize 2026 awarded to Jacobean credentials recognizes much more than a publication.
It recognizes the material memory of the pilgrims and the value of preserving an essential part of the contemporary history of the Camino de Santiago.
