The Friends of Hungary Foundation, publisher of our website, as well as our sister site, Ungarn Heute, awards the Friend of Hungary Award for the fifth time in 2022. The Friend of Hungary Award is a prestigious commendation recognizing the outstanding work of select individuals or organizations in the vast Hungarian community. Those who receive the award have invested significant time and effort into improving Hungary’s international image, strengthening Hungarian diaspora communities, and improving Hungary’s ties to its diaspora.
Established in 2016, the prize was awarded for the first time in May 2017 to Béla Lipták, leader of the Hungarian American Lobby, journalist Reinhard Olt, and the Hungarian American Federation. The 2018 awardees are Marika Radda, President of Club Pannonia, Annamária Heddadné Nagy, Presbyter of the Hungarian Reformed Congregation in Paris, Andrea Lauer Rice, and Réka Pigniczky for the visual archive of the Memory Project, and the 2019 recipients are Zsolt Bede-Fazekas, Editor-in-Chief of Independent Hungarian Radio Toronto, Christopher Ball, Honorary Consul of Hungary in Connecticut, and the Hungarian Scout Association Abroad. The award ceremony, which was canceled in 2020, was made up for with the Foundation’s 2021 conference. The winners of 2021 were Anikó Gaál-Schott, who has been working for decades as a “bridge between Hungary and the Washington region” in the United States and other international forums to promote Hungary and Hungarian interests; Zsuzsánna Haynalné Kesserű, a journalist who helps Argentine Hungarians preserve their Hungarian identity; and the Vienna Europe Club, founded by young people who emigrated from Hungary during the 1956 revolution. The winners of 2020 were Miklós Czaun, President of the West Coast Hungarian Scholars Club in the USA, Annamária Friedrich Ireghy, President of the Association of Hamburg Hungarians, and journalist Andreas Unterberger.
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János Miska
The main goal of János Miska’s life’s work has been to remain a Hungarian in faraway Canada, present Hungarian values to Canadians, and keep the Canadian-Hungarian scientific scene together. After returning to Hungary, he dedicated his own house as a research center summarizing his life’s work serving the public. In 2015, he founded the János Miska Canadian Hungarian Literary Archive, which includes books of Canadian Hungarian writers, his own extended correspondence, and a diary of 40 years. The János Miska Foundation supports underprivileged talented students. Once he has finished organizing his archive, it will be open to the public.
Dr. Zsuzsa Papp Aykler
She has been the president of the Rákóczi Foundation of Canada since 1991. The organization supports the studies of Hungarian youth living beyond the borders and in North America with scholarships and other programs. Since 1994, the foundation has been organizing the Students Without Boundaries Program, a unique educational program that brings together bright students from four different countries throughout Eastern-Central Europe along with students from Canada and North America. The goal is simple: to shatter the myths and misconceptions that have caused endless strife in the region.
Since 2005, Dr. Zsuzsa Papp Aykler has been editor-in-chief of the “Kanadai Amerikai Magyarság” newspaper, the only Hungarian-language journal of the North American Diaspora. The newspaper has 2,000 subscribers and nearly 2,000 Facebook followers.
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Hungarian American Coalition
The Hungarian American Coalition, the largest umbrella organization of the American Hungarian community, celebrated its 30th anniversary in August 2021. Through its individual and organizational members, the coalition represents 38,000 people, with leaders from all areas of the United States, and information offices in both Washington DC and Budapest. The Hungarian American Coalition’s mission is to mobilize and coordinate the talents and resources of its individual and organizational members. Over the last 30 years, the coalition has been building Hungarian-American relationships and improving the reputation of Hungary and Hungarians in the world.
Source: Friends of Hungary
Featured image via Friends of Hungary
