Eight Cultural Icons Receive the Prestigious Artist of the Nation Award

Eight artists have won this year’s most prestigious Hungarian art award, the Artist of the Nation award, which was presented on Tuesday in Budapest, at the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) headquarters in the Pesti Vigadó.

In 2024, the Artist of the Nation awards were presented to folk singer and storyteller András Berecz, architect, interior designer and visual designer Attila Ferenczfy-Kovács, cinematographer János Kende, architect Antal Lázár, Gábor Mezei interior designer, furniture designer, Menyhért Tamás poet, writer, literary translator, writer Ferenc Temesi, and Teodóra Uhrik, dance artist and dance teacher.

You, the artists of this honored nation, represent in the highest quality what we Hungarians have been building day by day for many centuries. Our culture, our art, our patriotism, the Hungarian national ideal,”

Balázs Hankó, Minister of Culture and Innovation, noted at the award ceremony, stressing that the two words, nation and art, cannot exist without each other, they are mutually dependent.

The title of Artist of the Nation is awarded to the most outstanding Hungarian creators of literature, theater, fine arts, music, applied arts, architecture, film, folk arts, dance, photography, and fine arts, and their body encompasses the entire Hungarian cultural life. He added: “Their knowledge, experience and works show clearly, honestly, and faithfully what it means to be Hungarian today. Your knowledge is the brightest capital of the future of Hungarians,” he pointed out.

In his welcome speech, Attila Turi, President of the MMA, recalled the anniversary of the award ceremony, saying that it was just ten years since the first winners received the award on November 5, the public body’s birthday.

He noted that recognizing excellence in the present is not as easy as talking about it in the past tense. “But it is our job to show the nation who their role models are in the present tense,” he said.

Speaking about the achievements so far and the artists who have been recognized with the award in the past ten years, the president pointed out that we must continue to protect and support our spiritual and intellectual heritage, Hungarian culture and artists who are the spiritual nourishment of a nation and create communities.

He stressed that

the nation’s artists are the bearers of culture in a world where the real and the virtual, the real and the pseudo-world seem to be fatally mixed due to a loss of proportion.

“It is important to show by clear, living example that God-given talent and the hard work required to polish it are real,” Mr. Turi highlighted.

At the initiative of the MMA, the National Assembly established the National Artist of the Nation Award, the most prestigious recognition in Hungarian arts, to personally honor and ensure dignified living conditions for outstanding Hungarian artists. Up to 70 people at a time can hold the title.

Via MTI; Featured image via MTI/Kocsis Zoltán