President Zuzana Čaputová during the state award ceremony. (source: TASR)
Footballer Marek Hamšík, addiction expert Ľubomír Okruhlica, and Canadian-Slovak photographer Yuri Dojč are just a few of the 28 personalities to whom President Zuzana Čaputová awarded state honours on the evening of January 1.
The ceremony took place on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Slovak Republic.
Among those honoured in memoriam is the first president of Slovakia, Michal Kováč. In addition, scientists, artists, and activists who have contributed to the good name of Slovakia at home and abroad were also given state awards.
Presidents of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Austria, Miloš Zeman, Andrzej Duda and Alexander Van der Bellen respectively, and the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk also attended the ceremony.
"Slovakia's greatest wealth is in its people. In their top performances, Slovak men and women, as well as our other citizens, have participated in the development of the European spirit over the past decades," said the Slovak President in her speech before the awards were presented.
The list of people who received state awards:
partisan and musician Vladimír Strmeň;
Czech historian Vilém Prečan;
author of the first Roma novel Ľudovít Didi;
pharmacist Daniela Ježová who researches the negative consequences of stress;
winemaker Ondrej Korpás who was at the registration of all modern Slovak wines;
world-famous photographer Yuri Dojč;
writer Hana Gregorová;
Christian dissident Eugen Valovič who founded the Movement of Christian Communities of Children;
miner Karol Mikuláš who was persecuted by the communists;
heraldist Ladislav Vrtel who authored the symbols of the Slovak Republic;
Roma activist Anna Koptová;
author of the public administration reform Viktor Nižňanský;
Ján Paľovský, who assembled the radio telegraphic communication network and encryption codes used during the Slovak National Uprising, which have never been deciphered;
pediatric oncologist Alexandra Kolenová;
theatre director Ľubomír Vajdička;
long-time head of the International Peace Marathon Branislav Koniar;
photovoltaics pioneer in Slovakia Miroslav Zeman;
poet Emília Haugová;
Michal Kováč, the first president of the Slovak Republic;
Hungarian folklorist András Takács;
footballer Marek Hamšík;
psychologist Soňa Holúbková who helps people with special needs;
climate change expert Gabriela Fischerová;
world-famous conductor Jack Martin Händler;
theatre actor Mikuláš Laš, who contributed to the codification of the Ruthenian language;
addiction expert Ľubomír Okruhlica;
scientist Jana Madejová who studies natural and chemically modified clay minerals;
cameraman Martin Štrba.
©Sme
