The Esperantist of the Year (''Esperantisto de la Jaro'') is an honorary designation bestowed each year by the editors of the

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

-language monthly ''

La Ondo de Esperanto ''La Ondo de Esperanto'' (English: ''The Wave of Esperanto'') was an illustrated Esperanto periodical published monthly in the Russian Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg). Since 2017 it is available only in pdf- or epub - form ...

'' (English: ''The Wave of Esperanto''). The award recipient is selected by an international jury led by Halina Gorecka, the Russian publisher of the magazine. The Esperantist of the Year award was created in 1998.

Laureates

* 1998: William Auld (1924–2006), a Scottish poet and translator who wrote chiefly in Esperanto * 1999:

Kep Enderby Keppel Earl Enderby (25 June 1926 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian politician and judge. Enderby was a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Australian Labor Party between 1970 and 1975 and became a senior cabinet minist ...

(b. 1926 in

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

), former president of

World Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 t ...

(UEA) * 2000: three candidates received an equal number of votes and shared the award: ** Hans Bakker (b. 1937 in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) ** Maŭro La Torre (1946–2010), an Italian specialist in

computational linguistics Computational linguistics is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modelling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions. In general, comput ...

) ** Jouko Lindstedt (b. 1955), a Finnish professor of

Slavonic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

* 2001:

Osmo Buller Osmo Buller is a Finnish Esperantist (born 1950 in Taivalkoski, Oulu, Finland). He is General Director of the Universal Esperanto Association. Having been an active participant at the 1969 World Congress of Esperanto ''(Universala Kongreso de Esp ...

(b. 1950 in

Taivalkoski Taivalkoski is a municipality of Finland, it is located in the Province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The m ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

), president of

(UEA) * 2002: Michel Duc-Goninaz (b. 1933 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, now in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

), for his editorship of a comprehensive Esperanto dictionary, the '' Nova Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto'' (NPIV) * 2003: Dafydd ab Iago (b. 1968 in

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, now living in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) * 2004:

Helmar Frank Helmar Gunter Frank (19 February 1933, Waiblingen – 15 December 2013, Paderborn) was a German mathematician and pedagogist. He was among the first scientists to apply mathematical methods in teaching and psychology. He established a method to me ...

(b. 1933 in

Waiblingen Waiblingen (; Swabian: ''Woeblinge'') is a town in the southwest of Germany, located in the center of the densely populated Stuttgart region, directly neighboring Stuttgart. It is the capital and largest city of the Rems-Murr district. , Waibli ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) * 2005: Povilas Jegorovas (b. 1955 in

Joniškis Joniškis (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Juonėškis'') is a town in northern Lithuania with a population of about 9,900. It is located 39 kilometers north of Šiauliai and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania–Latvia border. Joniškis i ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

) for his activism in

on the occasion of that year's

World Congress of Esperanto The World Esperanto Congress ( eo, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 113 years. The congresses have be ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

* 2006:

Bertilo Wennergren Bertilo Wennergren ( sv, Bertil Wennergren; ; born 4 October 1956) is a Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken p ...

(b. 1956 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) for his masterwork, the ''

Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko ''Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko'' (PMEG, en, Complete Manual of Esperanto Grammar, italic=yes) is a book which explains Esperanto grammar in an easy-to-learn format. It was mostly written by Bertilo Wennergren and is for ordinary Esperant ...

'', an exhaustive treatment of

Esperanto grammar Esperanto is the most widely used constructed language intended for international communication; it was designed with highly regular grammatical rules, and as such is considered an easy language to learn. Each part of speech has a characteristic ...

* 2007: Peter Zilvar (b. 1950), a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

living in

Herzberg am Harz Herzberg am Harz is a town in the Göttingen district of Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography Herzberg is situated on the southwestern rim of the Harz mountain range and the Harz National Park. Natural monuments in the surrounding area include the ...

* 2008: Ilona Koutny (b. 1953 in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

) for her continuing competent and successful guidance of the Interlinguistic Studies department at the Adam Mickiewicz University in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

* 2009: Aleksander Korzhenkov (Александр Корженков, b. 1958), a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n living in

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

* 2010: Katalin Kováts (b. 1957), a Hungarian living in the

* 2011: Dennis Keefe * 2012: Peter Baláž (b. 1979), a Slovak living in

Partizánske Partizánske (, meaning “partisan town” formerly: ''Baťovany'', hu, Simony) is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia. Geography Partizánske is located in the northern part of the Danubian Hills around from Nitra and from the capital Brat ...

* 2013:

Mark Fettes Mark Fettes is an Esperantist and university professor of education, and former President of the World Esperanto Association, known by its Esperanto initials as UEA. Career in Esperantujo Fettes worked from October 1986 until January 1992 in th ...

(b. 1961 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

), president of

(UEA) * 2014: Mireille Grosjean * 2015: Chuck Smith, founder of Esperanto Wikipedia, creator of Esperanto course on

Duolingo Duolingo ( ) is an American educational technology company which produces learning apps and provides language certification. On its main app, users can practice vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills using spaced repetition. D ...

* 2016: Stefan MacGill, retired

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

educator and magazine editor, now living in

* 2017: Huang Yinbao (, b. 1962 in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

) * 2018: Hori Jasuo (, b. 1941 in Japan) * 2019:

Anna Löwenstein Anna Löwenstein (also spelt Lowenstein; born 1951) is a British Esperantist.United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, well-known for her literary and educational contributions for decades. This honor is a special recognition of her work creating and contributing to the new website uea.facila.org. * 2020: Fernando Maia Jr., the vice president of the Universal Esperanto Association who oversaw the virtual congress during the Covid-19 pandemic, from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

* 2021: Halina Gorecka, a writer and the publisher of the magazine ''La Ondo de Esperanto'', from Russia * 2022: Edmund Grimley Evans, a mathematician and computer scientist from United Kingdom In 2001 Osmo Buller and Claude Piron received an equal number of votes, but according to rules in effect that year, Buller was declared the winner, as more nominators had proposed his name.

External links

Interviews with the laureates
{{Eo-Yr Awards established in 1998 International awards Language-related awards

Laureates

See also

External links