On behalf of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, Vizi E. Szilveszter and Enikő Győri presented the awards for the 2024 Friend of Hungary Award. We congratulate the awardees!

Katalin Catherine Szabo 

Katalin Catherine Szabo has been at the service of the Hungarian community in Toronto for more than 35 years since 1988. In the beginning, he worked as a member of the board of the Hungarian Cultural Center in Toronto, as a youth and cultural organizer, then as vice president from 2005-2009, and as president from 2009-2011. In 2011, he took over the management of the Hungarian Book Friends' Traditional Library. His determined work made it possible for the library's catalog to be available on the world wide web for everyone, and he also maintains continuous cooperation with the National Széchényi Library.

Katalin Szabó has a good connection with Hungarian and North American organizations, with whom she has organized book launches, theater performances, concerts, and exhibitions over the years. Among others connected  Helikon High School, Hungarian faculty of the University of Toronto, Hungarian schools in Canada, and Hungarian houses across Canada in joint programs. Every year, he participates in the organization of the Night of Hungarian Arts Festival in Canada, in the framework of which event Hungarian and non-Hungarian communities can gain an insight into Hungarian culture, thereby spreading positive recognition of Hungary.

Katalin Szabó's decades of tireless work for Hungarians and her unwavering commitment are recognized by the Friend of Hungary Award.

Zoltán Fodor-Lengyel  

Zoltán Fodor-Lengyel is a large-format creator who achieved a bright artistic career: painter, graphic artist and sculptor in one person. He began his studies in fine arts in Budapest, then continued in Paris, at the Sorbonne University's graphics department, while in Hungary he also studied Hungarian history at ELTE. He opened his first exhibition in the French capital at the age of 20. To date, he has organized nearly 200 individual exhibitions in many countries around the world.

Zoltán Lengyel Fodor currently lives and works in Madrid, and heads the contemporary Spanish-Hungarian foundation he created, Fundación Apoyo el Arte. The artist is a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Cádiz, he is the only academic of Hungarian origin in Spain. His works can be admired in international collections, on the walls of institutions and contemporary museums, and in public spaces. To date, he has published 11 books and nearly a hundred publications, and reproductions of his works appear on ceramics, graphic works, publications and covers. Many television documentaries and reports report on his life and work.

 Among his numerous recognitions, the International Goya Grand Prize (1988), the Golden Order of Merit of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Cádiz (2008), the Hungarian Golden Cross of Merit award (2017) and the "For Hungary in the World" art award (2018), the Hungarian Olympic Committee fair play award in the Science and Art category (2023).

 The Friend of Hungary Award was awarded by the Board of Trustees in recognition of his decades of steadfast artistic work and the transmission of Hungarian culture. As one of his recommenders put it: "there is no better ambassador for Hungarian culture and art, near or far like him"

Bocskai Rádió in Cleveland 

Bocskai Rádió was established in 1984 with the aim of serving the Hungarian population in the Cleveland area with Hungarian news. John Carroll University provided a place and space for the Hungarian voice right from the beginning. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, the audience of the broadcasts also extends to the diaspora audience of the North American continent. The beginnings go back to 1980, when András Tóth, the father of the radio, was an enthusiastic listener of Ferenc Szappanos' Sunday afternoon radio program as a university student, which mostly broadcast traditional Hungarian and gypsy music. When the program ceased to exist and the University studio had the opportunity to continue to fill the time slot with a Hungarian broadcast, András Tóth launched his programs under the name Kossuth Rádió. They read news and social ads, and reported on the programs of the Hungarian scouts.

 From 1987, they received an extra 2 hours of broadcasting time, when the religious half-hour was introduced. From 1989, László Berta and Elek Kálmán joined the work, after which the name of the radio was changed from Kossuth to Bocskai radio. From 1994, Dániel Kádár and his wife Mária Záveczky became the defining voice of the radio for twenty years. Zsolt Molnár joined the work of Bocskai Rádió in Cleveland in the second half of 2012. He created the radio's website and launched the radio's weekly electronic newsletter.

Cserkész Rádió's program was launched in November 2013, which grew into Cserkész Television in 2018. Thanks to the Csoma Sándor Kőrősi program, several young Hungarians helped and are helping the Rádió's work.

The pandemic that occurred in 2020 also put Bocskai Rádió to a serious test. During this time, Zsolt Molnár first made recorded television from the radio, and then also broadcast live television programs. Thanks to the world wide web, Bocskai Rádió can now be followed all over the world, in Hungary. They always present the rich Hungarian culture with fresh news, varied music and well-loved, permanent columns, and leave a mark on posterity.

 Bocskai Rádió can received the Friend of Hungary Award in recognition of its dedicated and persistent activity supporting Hungarianness and Hungarian culture.