This year, 2024, marks an important milestone for us: we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the domain, and we wanted to do it in style at the Culturgal Fair with a concert by Caamaño & Ameixeiras and the band Pava, the musical project of poet and composer Lucía Aldao. Additionally, the team from Autobán organized an All-Stars drawing contest, we saw several teams build their robots for the First Lego League, we sponsored a live recording of the podcast O Faiado, and we held a panel discussion on content creation in Galician on the internet. There was time to talk, reflect, create, and also celebrate.

For this anniversary, we also launched Solucións para asociacións (“Solutions for Associations”). This is a new project on the domain’s website, where non-profit organizations can find tools, discounts, and other useful resources.

We also made a series of institutional visits to key organizations that have supported the domain from the very beginning. These included the Parliament of Galicia, where we were welcomed by its president and members of parliament; the Xunta de Galicia, where we met with the Finance Minister; and the City Council of A Coruña, where the domain is headquartered, and we were received by the City Councillor for Technological Innovation.

But 2024 has been about more than just celebrating an anniversary. Here’s what else we’ve been up to:

Working with the language

Before January had even ended, we presented the seventh edition of the Microfiction Contest in a joint press conference with the Royal Galician Academy. And as in previous years, throughout February we accepted submissions for the contest and offered domain discounts as part of our annual campaign.

In March, we supported the PROPOR24 conference in Santiago, the largest scientific meeting focused on speech and language technologies for the Galician and Portuguese languages.

Working with culture

In May, we repeated a campaign encouraging the public to use and subscribe to Galician-language media. This initiative was carried out in collaboration with Dinahosting and the Galician Media Association. The Subscríbete ao galego (“Subscribe to Galician”) campaign achieved significant visibility and highlighted media outlets that were previously unknown to some people.

As in previous years, the self-publishing fairs took center stage. PuntoGal’s sponsorship helped to make the FunFunFun fair, held in Santiago de Compostela in June, a success as it marked the start of summer. Similarly, we supported Autobán, the self-publishing fair in A Coruña held in August, which coincided with one of Spain’s longest-standing events: the Viñetas desde o Atlántico comic festival. Both fairs enjoyed highly successful editions.

In collaboration with the Secretaría Xeral da Lingua, the domain also awarded prizes to five designs created by students from the CIFP Leixa, inspired by the textile collection of the Museo do Pobo Galego. The CIFP students presented their proposals, and five finalists were selected by the school faculty and PuntoGal. These designs will be distributed at the museum.

PuntoGal and cybersecurity

At the beginning of the year, PuntoGal signed a collaboration agreement with Women4Cyber Spain. As part of this agreement, its president, Eduvigis Ortiz, participated in several events in Galicia.

In March, we organized a webinar in collaboration with the Professional Association of Journalists of Galicia, PuntoGal, and the Global Cyber Alliance.

In September, we launched a cybersecurity toolkit for NGOs in partnership with the Global Cyber Alliance, with whom we’ve been collaborating for years to promote cybersecurity. That same month, we signed a collaboration agreement with the Internet Watch Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the UK whose primary mission is to identify and remove illegal material related to child abuse from the internet.

In November, we attended the Ciber.gal node meeting, of which we are a member and contributor. This initiative brings together key stakeholders in internet security across Galicia.

PuntoGal, a bridge to the world

In April, to mark UA Day, we organized an event at the University of Vigo to present this ICANN initiative. The event featured speakers such as Andrea Beccalli, who introduced the concept of universal acceptance and its implications to university students and administrators.

Over the summer, we held discussions with other domains to organize a meeting with ICANN-authorized registrars in A Coruña, as well as a GeoTLDs meeting in London. As usual, we exchanged ideas and work plans, as well as updates on emerging topics related to security, privacy, and user rights from ICANN leadership and the European Union.

In autumn, we attended the ICANN annual meeting in Istanbul, where we participated in discussions, analyses, and proposals over the course of a week of scheduled sessions.

PuntoGal and technology

This year, in collaboration with CESGA, we celebrated Girls in ICT Day, an initiative to promote the presence of women in careers and professions linked to new technologies.

In April, PuntoGal supported the third edition of the Ada Byron competition, which recognizes the best university teams in competitive programming from the three universities of the Galician University System offering degrees in Computer Engineering: the Faculty of Computer Science at UDC, the Higher Technical School of Engineering at USC, and the Higher School of Computer Engineering at UVIGO.

When work resumed in autumn, we participated in two major professional events: the RMC organized by Raiola Networks, and the WordCamp events held in Pontevedra and Vigo.

We also attended the Galician Night of Telecommunications and Information Society, as we have on other occasions.

PuntoGal and sports

Summer is also a time for outdoor sports. The Galician Gaelic Football Federation, another initiative supported by PuntoGal, traveled to Madrid to participate in the Madrid Harp Tournament. Two women’s and two men’s teams returned to Galicia with a few trophies. Meanwhile, the GaelicoEscolas invited the Irish cadet team Erin Go Bragh to celebrate Celtic Week in Galicia, fostering an exchange of experiences for young players.

Other initiatives by the domain

In 2024, we continued one of our ongoing efforts: engaging with civil society organizations to collaborate on common goals. These partnerships are formalized through agreements, such as the one signed with A Colectiva, which aims to make it easier for Galician artists to access the domain.

One of our regular sponsorships, aimed at younger audiences, is the First Lego League Galicia, held at the Ferrol campus. The event brought together over 300 children, and we awarded the prize for emerging talent.

We also supported the Paraugas Awards organized by the Galician Communication Cluster. At the awards gala, we presented one of the prizes and celebrated the most outstanding advertising and marketing campaigns of the year in Galicia.

Happy New Year to all!