Awarded on 20^th December 2020, the day of Lourdes Castro's 90th birthday, the Medal of Cultural Merit was recently presented to the artist at her Madeira Island residence by the Minister of Culture Graça Fonseca. This distinction is a recognition of Castro's important and original contribution to culture. Lourdes Castro was the first artist to receive the EDP Foundation Art Grand Prize in 2000 and her work was featured in the Portfolio of the inaugural issue of Electra. The work featured was an as yet unpublished artist's book based on a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, originally conceived in 1957.