“The Constitutional Court and the Center for Constitutional Studies, with the desire to honour the memory of the highly esteemed M. Francisco Tomas y Valiente, have decided to jointly create an annual award bearing the name of a distinguished and honourable historian and jurist, in order to encourage academic studies on constitutional justice, to which he used to devote himself, in complete freedom, with respect and tolerance, as Magistrate and President of the Constitutional Court” (BOE of June 11th 1996)