The “Santi Ilario and Taziano - City of Gorizia" Award was established by the municipal administration in 2001 and is presented every year on March 16, the day when Gorizia celebrates Saints Hilary and Tazian, the patron saints of the city. For the 2026 edition, the Commission has decided to award the prize to the President of the EGTC GO, Paolo Petiziol, for the particular attention he has always devoted to Gorizia and its history, and for having been one of the active protagonists of the European Capital of Culture 2025.

The award ceremony will take place on Monday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Giuseppe Verdi Hall of Palazzo De Bassa (admission to the hall will be possible until capacity is reached), following the solemn celebration presided over by the Archbishop of Gorizia, which will be held in the Cathedral at 5:30 p.m.

Just as in 2025, also this year the evaluation committee has decided to make an exception to the regulations by awarding a special prize, intended as a testament to the spirit of GO! 2025, during which the decision to designate Paolo Petiziol matured. The award for this edition was conceived precisely because it brings together the values from which the first cross-border European Capital of Culture was born and developed with the memory of Hilary the Bishop and Tatian the Deacon, who suffered martyrdom together with other Christians on March 16, 284. The work, whose realization was entrusted to Plateam Group, depicts a miniature GO! Pharus, bearing the images of the two Saints.

An additional recognition, as has now become tradition, will be awarded to ASD Dinamo Gorizia for the important achievements it has reached.

The evaluation committee is chaired ex officio by the Mayor and the Dean of the city and is composed of the parish priest of the Cathedral, the Municipal Councillor for Culture, the President of the Consortium for the Development of the University Hub, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, and the President of the Cassa di Risparmio di Gorizia Foundation. Since 2022, the requirement that the selected person must have been born or reside in Gorizia has been eliminated. The Award, which since 2007 has been represented by a work depicting in stylized form Hilary the Bishop and Tatian the Deacon, Martyrs, is granted to an individual, body, association or organization—regardless of its denomination—without profit-making or political aims that, through its work or activities in the civil, economic, cultural, artistic, religious, or social fields, has honored and promoted the name of Gorizia in Italy and abroad.

In 2025, given the prestige of the awardees, the Commission chose to present them with a unique prize, which will never be reproduced again. Also for this edition, at the conclusion of GO! 2025, and on a completely exceptional basis, a prize different from the traditional one will be proposed.

Since 2001, the Commission has awarded the prize as follows:

2001 – Anton Zoran MUSIC
2002 – Vittorio PERI
2003 – Tonino ZORZI
2004 – Michele MARTINA
2005 – Quirino PRINCIPE
2006 – Cecilia SEGHIZZI
2007 – Sergio TAVANO
2008 – Paolo MAURENSIG
2009 – Bruna MUZZOLINI TOMASINI
2010 – Alessandro MARANGONI
2011 – Gianni BISIACH
2012 – Edy REJA
2013 – Cavalry Brigade “Pozzuolo del Friuli” and
    13th Carabinieri Regiment “Friuli Venezia Giulia”
2014 – Fabio BELTRAM
2015 – Carlo RUBBIA
2016 – Alessandro ARBO
2017 – Leopoldo TERRANEO
2018 – Cristian TOMASETTI
2019 – Roberta CHERSEVANI
2020 – Matteo OLEOTTO
2021 – Demetrio VOLCIC
2022 – Mario BRANCATI
2023 – Paolo CAMOSSI
2024 – Maria Paola PAGNINI
2025 – Sergio MATTARELLA and Borut PAHOR