Beata Balogová is an award-winning journalist, From 2014 to 2025, she served as editor-in-chief of SME, one of Slovakia’s leading daily newspapers, and currently holds the position of chief commentator. Before joining SME, she was editor-in-chief of Slovakia’s English-language weekly The Slovak Spectator from 2003 to 2014. She earned her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1994. She received the 2020 European Press Prize for Opinion and has been recognized with three national journalism awards in Slovakia. She currently serves on the board of the European Press Prize and was deputy chairwoman of the executive board of the International Press Institute from 2016 to 2022. Beata is the author of Cornelias (Kornélie), an autobiographical novel published in 2022 and translated into Polish, Serbian, and Czech, as well as The Book Full of People (Kniha plná ľudí), a work of non-fiction.