Santa Cruz de Tenerife Unveils the 2026 Carnival Poster
The vibrant street of La Noria was the setting for a special preview party for the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival 2026. Organized by the city’s Fiestas department, the event featured live performances by the Orquesta Revelación and Dominican singer Manny Cruz, setting the stage for the upcoming celebration dedicated to Latin rhythms.
The Winning Design: It’s More Beautiful to Live Dancing
The centerpiece of the announcement was the reveal of the official carnival poster, created by Héctor Expósito. His design, titled “It’s More Beautiful to Live Dancing,” emerged as the winner after receiving the highest score in a dual voting system, earning its author a prize of €12,000. The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, publicly congratulated the winner and highlighted the massive public engagement, with nearly 20,000 valid votes cast on the municipal portal, carnavaldetenerife.com.
A Poster of Consensus
Javier Caraballero, the Councillor for Fiestas, also extended his congratulations to Expósito and the other participating artists. He noted that Expósito’s proposal was “one of consensus,” as it garnered support from both the public and the professional jury and was “the most liked” on social media. He described it as “a work that brings together all the ingredients to represent our carnival in this edition dedicated to Latin rhythms.”
A Carnival Appetizer on La Noria Street
Starting at 8:30 PM, La Noria street hosted a lively “appetizer” for the 2026 Carnival. For three and a half hours, the audience was treated to a show that revisited the classic anthems of the Santa Cruz carnival alongside infectious Latin beats. The performances included not only the Orquesta Revelación and Manny Cruz but also soloists from various Canarian orchestras.
How the Winner Was Chosen
The winning poster secured its victory with 34.3% of the 19,886 total votes cast through the official website, amounting to 6,828 public endorsements. When combined with the jury’s score, it achieved a final rating of 7.85 out of 10. The other finalists and their vote counts were: “Don Cartón Pintado” (6,398 votes), “Desde Bien Lejitos Vengo” (4,411 votes), “El Mismo Latido” (1,599 votes), and “Tumbao y Son” (650 votes).
The public consultation was open from October 20th at 8:00 PM until October 30th at 11:59 PM, allowing only one vote per IP address. Throughout the entire process, the voting was “blind,” meaning no public data was available on the number of votes each poster was receiving. The final scores for the other four shortlisted works, combining jury and public votes, were: Don Cartón Pintao (6.57); El Mismo Latido (5.41); Desde Bien Lejitos Vengo (4.93); and Tumbao y Son (1.22).
Meet the Professional Jury
The professional jury appointed by the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council was composed of renowned figures from the arts and carnival scene: Alejandro Tosco, a visual artist and reference in contemporary art; Patricia Delgado, a graphic artist specialized in engraving, illustration, and graphic arts; Patricia Hodgson, a Fine Arts graduate and teacher; Alexis Santana, designer of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2025 Carnival Queen’s costume; Leo Martínez, a fashion and stage costume designer, and a leading name in Tenerife’s carnival and haute couture; Daniel Pagés, graphic designer and art director for the 2026 Carnival; Paula Álvarez, a marketing and communications professional and also an art director for the 2026 Carnival; and Yeray Piñero, a performing arts producer and art director for the 2026 Carnival.
