Ciril Horjak from Ljubljana

Nominated by: Darijan Novak, Slovenian Institute for Adult Education

He recognised his artistic talent in childhood. Together with his brother, he wrote and drew a magazine Packa od črnila [Ink Stain]. He began his artistic path by learning to draw entirely independently. To develop his talent, he enrolled in and graduated from the Design and Photography Secondary School in Ljubljana, where he began to work on illustration and design projects. Today he is a self-employed student at the Academy of Fine Arts, responsible for numerous other comic strip projects while also taking care of his family. To mention just some of the results of his creativity: the first Slovene comic book textbook Najmanjša velika enciklopedija stripa [The Smallest Great Comic Book Encyclopaedia], praised by the well-known Miki Muster; a short animated film Ljubezenska znamenja [Signs of Love] by Aleš Žemlja, for which he drew the characters and backgrounds, a publication to mark the 60th anniversary of the Koroška Central Library, a comic for the Temna stran mavrice [Dark Side of the Rainbow] project, and comic-book-based education in the Slorest company. Together with the PiP institute he prepared a comic on the Lisbon Treaty. In recent years he has also displayed his knowledge on Radio Študent by drawing live on the Risanka [Drawing] programme. He also works with the Večer newspaper, has prepared a comic Zgodilo se je čisto blizu nas [It Happened Near Us] for the Red Cross etc. His work success motivates him to seek out opportunities to teach about and using comic books.

Ciril is certainly an artist and activist who - in the words of his nominator, Darijan Novak - "through his deep work with various target groups makes training and education more accessible".