The winners of this year’s Hungary 365 photo competition were announced in Budapest on Wednesday. 16 applicants received recognition from the seven-member jury of renowned professionals.
“The submitted photos simultaneously contain everything that is uniquely Hungarian, everything that is timeless beauty, and everything that is understandable to everyone in the world. They were made at home, but they appeal to everyone,” said Csaba Dömötör, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, at the award ceremony held at the Eiffel Workshop on Wednesday.
“The 44,000 pictures came from many different places, but they are connected by ties to the homeland,” said Csaba Dömötör, emphasizing that the album made of the photos from the competition will also appear on the shelves of bookstores at the beginning of the year, in hundreds of locations throughout the country.
“We often don’t know what surrounds us, and the photo contest helps us get to know our country, where we really live,” said Szilveszter Ókovács, general director of the Hungarian State Opera. The contemplation created by the photographers “must be an element of everyone’s existence,” he added.
The tender was announced for the fifth time, starting this year under the coordination of the Magyar Örökség Kezdeményezés Nonprofit Kft. and the Lajos Batthyány Foundation, with the support of the Hungarian government.
The goal of the photo contest is to present the country’s natural treasures, landscapes, architecture and the communities living here through the lens of the creators, with a unique vision. The initiative also offers professional and hobbyist photographers the opportunity to show and promote their works to the general public. Already in the first year, 21,000 images were submitted to the competition, and this year more than 44,000.
You could apply for the Hungary 365 photo competition in five categories – nature, landscape, architecture, portrait and community events, and street photography – with unique images or series. The professional jury awarded three prizes in each category, as well as the special prize of the jury. The first place winners and special prize winners will receive HUF 2 million net, the second place winners HUF 1 million, and the third place winners HUF 500 thousand.
Based on the decision of the professional jury, the first place in the nature category was Csaba Daróczi’s series “Animals of the forest”, the second place was Norbert Kaszás’s picture “The ladder master”, and the third place was Máté Bence’s photo “Röppályk”.
In the Landscape category, the first prize of the jury was awarded to Tibor Berendi’s Awakening, the second prize to Kornél Makovics’s Incredible Energies, and the third to Tamás Attila’s picture entitled Dawn Hasad.
In the category of architecture, the first prize of the judging committee was won by Edit E. Ujvári with her painting Misty night, the second prize was won by Balázs Rödönyi’s The back of the Parliament, and the third prize by Anna Váczi’s picture Millenium Gardens.
Based on the decision of the judging committee, the first place in the portrait and community events category went to Csaba Szabó’s picture Dance to the Pope, the second place to Zsófia Raffay’s Dancer, and the third place to Mónika Wéber’s picture Szent Iván.
In the street photo category, the first prize of the jury was awarded to Tibor Litauszki’s Dependence, the second prize to Rita Szabó’s Young Couple, and the third to Zsolt Biczó’s photo Angel’s Welcome. The jury’s special prize was awarded to Dávid Balogh’s work Between the Clouds.
The previous five members – Kaiser Ottó Hungarian Heritage Award-winning photographer, jury president; Éva Keleti is a Kossuth award-winning photographer; photographer László Haris, member of the board of the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA); Imre Potyó, environmental researcher, nature photographer, winner of the 2020 competition, nature photographer of the year and grand prize winner of the Hungarian nature photographer; Photographer Tamás Rizsavi, audience prize winner of the 2021 competition – this year the jury was expanded to include Rudolf Prize-winning photographer Ábel Balogh Szalontai, a teacher at the Moholy-Nagy University of Arts (MOME), and photographer Árpád Kurucz, the main prize winner of the 2010 Pictures of the Year international press competition.
(MTI)
Main photo: The winners and members of the jury at the award ceremony of the Hungary 365 photo competition at the Eiffel Workshop on December 6, 2023. MTI/Robert Hegedüs
