First presented in 1997, the Lydia Wisiak Award is conferred by the expert committee of the Association of Ballet Artists of Slovenia for an individual's outstanding and original contribution to the art of ballet. The award is named after the late Slovene ballet dancers and choreographers Lydia Wisiak (1906–1993) who was the first Slovenian ballet dancer educated alos abroad (Dresden and Paris), who established herself on the international ballet stage between the two wars, in Paris, Switzerland, Belgium and Prague.