Peter Baláž (Esperantist)
Peter Baláž , in Esperanto known as Petro (), (born 8 October 1979 in Partizánske, Czechoslovakia) is an Esperantist, publisher and editor; he was selected as the 2012 Esperantist of the Year. Baláž lives in his hometown of Partizánske and speaks Slovak, Czech, German, Polish, Russian and English, as well as the international planned language Esperanto. Work. After pursuing a vocational program in hospitality at "Hotelová Akadémia Ľudovíta Wintera" ("Ľudovít Winter Hotel Academy") in Piešťany, he worked for two years in Germany and Austria. Baláž is especially active in the international Esperanto movement and educational projects. In 2003 he  co-founded Slovak Esperanto Youth (Slovak: "SKEJ - Slovenská esperantská mládež", Esperanto: "Slovakia Esperanta Junularo") and served as its president for five years. In 2004 he was elected as vice-president of the Slovak Esperanto Federation (Slovak: "Slovenská esperantská federácia", Esperanto: "Slovakia Esperanta Federacio") Organising of events. Peter Baláž organised and is organising a couple of events. In 2007 he led test Esperanto summer school "Slava Esperanto-Studado" ("Slavic Esperanto Study" - SES). The original idea, in which Peter participated, was an event touring though various Slavic countries and providing to its participants courses of Esperanto language and Slavic culture. But the  next year Peter changed the spirit of the event and made it a physical meeting of "lernu!" users. Accordingly, the organising organisations was "lernu!", E@I (as provider of "lernu!") and Slovak Esperanto Youth and the name was changed to Summer Esperanto Study, the abbreviation is still “SES”. Since that SES occurred every year in Slovakia and in 2014 additionally in Russia. Peter was the main organiser of all SESes. In 2010 E@I took organisation of Conference on the Application of Esperanto in Science and Technology (KAEST) with Peter as the main organiser. Peter is also the president of Local Congress  Committee of World Congress of Esperanto 2016 (Nitra, Slovakia). Awards. Baláž was five times nominated for the international magazine "La Ondo de Esperanto". In 2008 he was in second place, behind Ilony Koutny and in 2011 in third place,