To honour the City Holiday, on Friday 9 May 2014 there was a Gala Meeting of Ljubljana City Council at Ljubljana Castle, at which Mayor Zoran Janković bestow the highest awards of the City of Ljubljana.

Honorary Citizens 2014

Dr Ljubo Bavcon, internationally acclaimed scientist, university professor and a journalist

A humanist and a scientist, who dedicated his professional, pedagogical and journalistic career to social transformation of democracy, separation of powers, tolerance, rule of law and effective legal human rights protection. He set the highest civilizational standards against capital punishment after his experience in the Slovenian national liberation struggle during World War 2 and serving in a military prison in Italy and Germany during the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Prof Dr Ljubo Bavcon is a pioneer predecessor of the human rights ombudsman, one of the first to talk about the erased population (Izbrisani) and a leader of the Human Rights Council for many years.

Jože Ciuha, Slovenian academic painter, writer and university professor

A great cosmopolitan, insightful illustrator, graphic designer, water-colourist, mosaic artist, author of tapestries with a vast painting opus, which has greatly influenced Slovenian painting in the 20th century.
The international artistic public has granted him with the honorary membership of the Russian Academy of Arts, the French and the Austrian national recognition awards and wide open doors to several prestigious world galleries, such as Albertina in Vienna and the Tate Gallery in London. He is the first living artist in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and has exhibited in over three hundred galleries across the world. His study of the Eastern religions and cultures has inspired his numerous students at home and abroad. At the age of 90 this year he lived to see a retrospective exhibition at the Jakopič Galerry with excellent turnout.

Recipients of the City of Ljubljana Award 2014

Dr Aleksander Doplihar

Aleksander Doplihar, an exceptional physician with a big heart and a specialist of occupational traffic and sports medicine continues to give out selflessly and with devotion despite his venerable age and retiring 23 years ago. He leads and coordinates the work of 36 colleagues – doctors of different specialities at Savsko Naselje. They work at the PRO BONO clinic for people without health insurance. Aleksander Doplihar's work is distinguished by dedication, exceptional feel for the fellow human and cooperation with people regardless of their status, beliefs or social position.

Ljubica Podboršek

Ljubica Podboršek is the ambassador of sign language. She mastered the skill during her childhood, when she assisted her deaf parents and accompanied them into public on her own initiative. Later, she embraced interpreting and researching the field as her life mission. Ljubica Podboršek has become the advocate and the voice of the deaf, who is to this day building bridges between the world of the deaf and the world of those with hearing.

Stojan Batič

Stojan Batič is a prominent representative of figural sculpture. His style is strongly connected to the ever present mighty monumental expression with a personal styling of authentic procedures. Batič's opus also includes a poetic, at times very erotic small sculpture. His sculptures adorn many public spaces in our city.

Marjan Sedmak

Marjan Sedmak is a lawyer by education who dedicated his professional life to journalism. He decided to engage in social activity in his mature active years – he was among other things a president of the Slovene Association of Journalists, a president of Ljubljana City Pensioners' Association and a president of the AGE Platform Europe. Sedmak is also the idea and the activity plan behind the Daily Centres for Activities for the elderly – there are six active centres in the City of Ljubljana. Centres are an effective tool in preventing social exclusion and provide space for strengthening the intergenerational connection.

Zdenko Vrdlovec

The public is familiar with Zdenko Vrdlovec as the film critic, which is far from his entire field of work. He was a key member of the Ekran magazine and an author of numerous books and studies. Vrdlovec's contribution to historiography in Slovenian cinematography is his last year's monumental monograph titled Slovenian Film History from 1896 to 2011. His opus of reviews, studies, translations and books with detailed studies of layers of film has put Vrdlovec among the most esteemed critics of the Slovenian film culture.

Recipients of the City of Ljubljana Plaque 2014

Tone Fornezzi Tof

Tof is an "institution" himself in Slovenia. For the past four decades and a half, he has been demonstrating that an entire nation can be connected in positive common goal campaigns in the fields of professional and recreational sports, social solidarity and healthy living in spare time – with the help of good will, a touch of healthy irony, good colleges and media support.

Ljubljana Festival, Public Institution

The Ljubljana Festival has increased the quality of cultural offer in Slovenia and its capital to enviable level, which is surpassed each year with the selected programme and internationally acclaimed guest appearances. The institution is acclaimed in support to presenting and researching Slovenian contemporary and past achievements in musical creativity, which is stored in collections of papers of the international musicology symposiums participants.

Sokol Bežigrad Sport Society

Gymnastics has been a foundation of the Sokol national awareness movement and its beginnings. ŠD Sokol Bežigrad remains loyal to its name and tradition – the regular gymnastics training and similar activities have been introduced to 18 primary schools, friendships are made at competitions and sport events in Slovenia and around the world, the members organise cultural and educational evenings and publish their newsletter.

Cultural and Artistic Society – KUD Svoboda Črnuče

After 80 years of activity the society from Črnuče is still fresh with ideas and strength to attract local resident to participate in the community. Socialising, creating and connecting with local educational institutions and other societies keep Črnuče alive, the district known for their love of singing and several quality choirs. There are three choirs, an octet and two ensembles just within the Svoboda organisation.