The Prešeren Award ( sl, Prešernova nagrada), also called the Grand Prešeren Award ( sl, Velika Prešernova nagrada), is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. It is awarded each year by the Prešeren Fund () to two eminent Slovene artists, with the provision that their work was presented to the public at least two years ago. In general, it may be given to an artist only once, and can also be given to a group of artists. It is given on the eve of the Prešeren Day, the Slovenian cultural holiday celebrated on the anniversary of the death of

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

, the Slovene

national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbo ...

. On the same occasion, the Prešeren Fund Awards () or Small Prešeren Awards () are given to up to six artists. The awardees also receive a financial award, with the Prešeren Award three times as high as the Prešeren Fund Award. In recent years, the awards have been increasingly given for lifetime work.

History

The Prešeren Award was for the first time bestowed in 1947, on the basis of a decree from 1946. It was originally given on 8 February, Prešeren Day, the holiday commemorating the anniversary of the death of the Slovene

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

. In 1955, the first act on the Prešeren awards was passed. By it, the award gained its current name and the Prešeren Fund was established, which by the amendments of the act in 1956 became a legal personality. Since 1961, the awards were conferred also for the lifetime work. In addition, the Prešeren Fund Award was introduced. Since that year, these awards have been conferred only for exceptional achievements in the field of arts. In 1982, the Prešeren Fund came under the auspice of the Cultural Community of Slovenia. At most three Prešeren Awards and ten Prešeren Fund Awards were given. Since 1991, when the ''Prešeren Award Act'' () was passed, the Fund works under the auspice of the Slovenian administrative body in charge of culture. According to the act, at most two awards may be given.

Prešeren Fund

The Prešeren Award and the Prešeren Fund Award are bestowed by the Prešeren Fund Management Board (). Its 15 members are artists or other cultural workers, like critics, historians, and theoreticians. They are nominated by the

Slovenian Government The politics of Slovenia takes place in a framework of a Parliamentary system, parliamentary Representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Slovenia is the head of government, and of a multi-party sys ...

and elected for a four-year term by the

National Assembly of Slovenia The National Assembly ( sl, Državni zbor Republike Slovenije, or ), is the general representative body of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively ...

. The board, which was last elected in May 2008, elected Jaroslav Skrušny as its chair in July 2008. The Prešeren Fund now operates under the auspice of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. In an interview in February 2012, Skrušny described the work by the Board as independent and denied any political pressure in the past few years.

Selection and proclamation of the winners

On 10 February, the Prešeren Fund announces a public tender, which lasts until 15 September. Any physical or legal person may nominate authors for the award, but have to provide appropriate rationale and references. About 100 proposals are put forward each year, the majority of proposals from the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

. The selection is based on artistic value of the works by the proposed artists as well as other criteria, such as the equal representation of gender, regions, generations, and world views, trying to achieve a balanced and plural choice. Both the established artists and debitants have won the award. The nominees are then selected by the four field committees of the Prešeren Fund, each comprising seven members named by the Prešeren Fund Management Board. Each committee proposes two names for the Prešeren Award and six names for the Prešeren Fund Award, altogether eight for the great award and 24 for the little award. The board then makes the final selection with a secret vote in November after a long discussion and proclaims the awardees after they are elected by two thirds of members. If necessary, more voting rounds may take place. Although in the past, the names of the awardees were announced already on 3 December, the date of the anniversary of Prešeren's births, in the last years they have remained secret until the award ceremony.

Review of the awardees

Since Slovenian declaration of independence in 1991, the majority of the Prešeren Award winners have been literary artists, among them the only woman being Makarovič, who declined the award in 2000 but accepted the money. From the field of performing arts, only two artists won the award. From the field of music, the awardees have been mainly composers and conductors, with the only instrumentalist being the flautist

Irena Grafenauer Irena Grafenauer (born 19 June 1957 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian flute player and soloist, a pupil of Boris Čampa, Karlheinz Zöller and Aurèle Nicolet. Irena Grafenauer born to father Stanko Grafenauer, a geologist, and to mother M ...

. A general trend of older men active in

institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

alised arts is recognisable among the awardees. The group of the Prešeren Fund Award winners is more diverse.

References

External links

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Prešeren Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preseren Award Slovenian awards Arts awards Awards established in 1946

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...