The recipients have been announced of the Župančič Prizes 2012, the City of Ljubljana's highest recognition for outstanding creativity in the field of arts and culture.

The City of Ljubljana Commission for Awarding the Župančič Prizes, comprising Prof Dr Milček Komelj, associate member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Asst Prof Dr Andrej Blatnik, Matevž Čelik, Jurij Meden, Dr Tomaž Toporišič, Asst Prof Dr Gregor Pompe and Vojko Vidmar, has made its decisions on this year's recipients of the City of Ljubljana's highest recognition for artistic creativity. Their recommendations have been confirmed by Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković.

This year, the City of Ljubljana is recognising four top artists who have broadened the reputation of Ljubljana at home and abroad.

The Župančič Prize for Lifetime Achievement

The Župančič Prize for Lifetime Achievement goes to Olga Kacjan, stage and film actress and champion of the Slovenian Youth Theatre.

In her rich acting opus on stage and screen she has created masterful, moving and memorable depictions. The high artistic value of her oeuvre has been recognised by film and theatre critics as well as members of commissions that have bestowed numerous professional awards upon her. In her rendition of stage and film characters, which is fully imbued with genuine lyricism and personal artistic message, the most unforgettable are Parisad in Scheherazade, Jacinta in Cankar's Scandal in the St Florian Valley, Jocasta in Oedipus the King, Lissie Kelch in the One and the Other, the interpreter of Kleist's letters in the staging of a Diptych of Love – Kleist, Susn in Susn, the mother in Roberto Zucco, Pepe in Clowns, Madame de Clairwil in Juliette Justine, Anna Akhmatova in Supremat, Dvorjanka in Mater v Poroki, Sister Cecilia in the Ward of Our Lady of Mercy, Maria in Šumi, Barin's servant in Vampire, Raskolnikov's mother in Crime and Punishment, as well as screen roles A Story of Good People, the Girl's Bridge, the Iron Cross, the Medusa Raft, Sava Šumanović, Svetozar Marković, Heritage and Carmen.

Through her precise character studies, the actress reveals their unexpected dimensions and performs them with exceptional subtlety and binding presence, marked by a special fragility. Her name is a byword for Slovenian theatre and film and that of the former Yugoslavia and a central name in the Slovenian Youth Theatre, whose highly-acclaimed global tours carry the reputation of Slovenian theatre around the world as one of its best-recognised and most vital.

The Župančič Prizes for Two-Year Creativity

The Župančič Prizes for Two-Year Creativity (from 2010 to 2012) are awarded to:

Iztok Kovač, dancer, choreographer, teacher, founder and artistic leader of the EnKnapGroup, for the artistic leadership of the EnKnapGroup permanent modern dance ensemble, for his authorship of the educational dance presentation 'Beware Dangerous Dancing!', for choreography of Child in Time in the Triptych show and for his choreography in Requiem.

Tobias Putrih, sculptor and visual artist, for his independent exhibition in the Pompidou Centre in Paris, at an international biennial in Sao Paulo, in the Gregor Podnar Slovenian Gallery in Berlin, the Pinksummer Gallery in Genoa, the Meullenstein (Chelsea) Gallery in New York and at an international fair in Hong Kong, for collective exhibitions in Canada, Australia, India and Poland and for the scenery in a staging of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by the Ljubljana City Theatre.

Prof. Uroš Rojko, composer, clarinettist and university teacher, for performances of his own work in Slovenia (Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, Radovljica, Velenje, Piran and Nova Gorica) and abroad (Freiburg, Klagenfurt, Seattle and Brussels), for his work on the 25th Slovenian Days of Music with the chamber opera King David, on ISCM World Music Days with his composition Diapento as well as for high-profile concerts with the Quo Vadis Trio and the Karlsruhe Soloists, where the artist was showcased as a performer and conductor.

The gala presentation of the Župančič Prizes is to take place at 9pm on Tuesday 12 June 2012 on the Stage under the Stars at Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, Krekov trg 2.