MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT'S AWARDS FOR THE FIRST TIME
Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic decided to give the Minister of the Environment's Awards for oustanding achievements, long-time contribution in the care for environment of the Slovak Republic and for the development of environmentalistics. The non-financial, honorary prizes were given for the first time this year in four categories. In the category “Communities” it was awarded to Križovany nad Dudváhom, in the category “Companies” to the SNP Factory in Žiar nad Hronom, in the category “Civil Association” to the VLK Forest Protection Association and in the category “Individual or a Team” to Prof. Milan Ružička, Mr. Alexander Žabka and Mr. Július Burkovský.  The Minister of the Environment Mr. László Miklós at the same time handed over a letter of thanks to Michal Kravčík, the chairman of the People and Water Foundation and gave his view on returning back the Minister's Award by the Vlk Forest Protection Association. They justified it by the fact that together with them also the SNP Factory in Žiar nad Hronom was awarded and the VLK Association considers this factory an extreme polluter of the Žiar Valley. 

The author of the article presents here the awarded community, company, civil association and an individual.  Awarding of non-financial, honorary prizes for outstanding achievements or for long-time contribution in the care for environment becomes a tradition.