Levente and Tímea Gáll, the Hungarian Hospice Foundation, and Szabi, the baker, alias Szabolcs Szabadfi, received this year's Highlights of Hungary Social Awards at the awards gala held at the Budapest Music Center on Thursday evening.

These three outstanding Hungarian performances proved to be the most popular and received the most votes in the public vote that took place in October, so they also won the prize of two million forints. Highlights of Hungary had a record year this year:

more than 110,000 votes were received for a total of 25 candidates from about 1,500 settlements. The prizes were awarded by this season's ambassadors, dr. It was handed over by Kitti Almási, Marcsi Borbás, Dániel Gyurta and T. Danny.

"We are very happy that this initiative is becoming more and more popular every year, because the stakeholders are full of good people, people who don't hesitate to roll up their sleeves, do the work, think, but most of all love: love themselves, their community, their Hungarianness"

- said Marianna Csehi, managing director of Highlights of Hungary.

The ambassadors all agreed that the road to success often leads through low points, but it is worthwhile to persevere and follow the chosen path with maximum dedication and integrity. One of the most important considerations when selecting candidates was to find people who really care about helping and doing things for the community.

"In my view of life, this means the real living space where we live, these waters, these springs that we can drink, these pastures where we can keep animals and this air that we can breathe. These are the three most important elements of a good quality of life (...) this is what God holds in the palm of his hand"

- said Levente Gáll and Tímea, the two owners of the Zsigmond Malom pension in Csíkmadaras, who save the grandparents' water mill from decay.

"Many people are already familiar with the concept of hospice, which for many is strongly associated with death. Although hospice is not about death, but about the stage of life that characterizes the last months"

- revealed in the short film about the Hungarian Hospice Foundation.

“In life, work must be done…and it must be done honestly. I want to go to bed peacefully and hand over a cocoa snail or a loaf of bread with complete peace of mind, knowing that I have done my best to give you a product from a clean source, beautifully processed."

- Szabi, the baker, alias Szabolcs Szabadfi, who is now one of the best-known artisan bakers in Hungary, explained his creed.

Highlights of Hungary is not a classic award, it is not simply a brand offering recognition, but rather a cause, a protective net in the intellectual sense. He believed in highlighting positive Hungarian initiatives and proving that we have something to be proud of. During its ten years of existence, it presented more than five hundred outstanding Hungarian achievements, thereby inspiring and motivating everyone to act and create. From the range of these achievements, the book of interviews entitled Inspiráló magyaroks – 24 captivating success stories, published by Highlights of Hungary, was presented at the gala and was written by Sal Endre and Berta Mihály.

Five special awards were also won in addition to the audience awards of Highlights of Hungary 2024 

In addition to the three audience awards, five special awards were also awarded during the evening through the supporters of the Highlights of Hungary idea and award. Orsolya Ludvig, Libri's marketing and communications director, presented a monetary award to dancer Ármin Balázsi Gergő ; the managing director of Kreatív magazin, Ágnes Vándor, rewarded textile designer Apol Temesi ; Kata Molnár-Bánffy, on behalf of Képmás Magazine, Fabók's Mancsi Puppet Theater to be supported; according to Index CEO Ákos Starcz, creativity is one of the great driving forces of the world, which is why they decided to choose the Muralpaint project , to whom they were offered a one-year media support; and the special prize of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) was received by storyboard creator Kő Boldizsár

Featured image: Highlights of Hungary/Facebook