András Szabó, reporter and editor of Direkt36, won the László Szente Prize, which was awarded for the third time this year. The award ceremony was held on 28 January in Budapest.

The prize was founded in memory of László Szente, a journalist who died in 2022, by his former colleagues Katalin Rangos and Sándor Friderikusz. Szente previously worked at Hungarian Radio, where he created the program 180 perc, was the host-editor of Szombat este and 168 óra, and later worked at Klubrádió for many years.

The prize is intended to recognize the work of journalists who, in the words of the founders, “cannot or will not combine their exceptional talent, unrivaled professionalism, and unrelenting thoroughness with a sense of purposeful self-assertion.” András Szabó worked as a journalist at Origo for eight years and then spent several years at Index and vs.hu. He won the Soma Gőbölyös Award in 2011 and the Quality Journalism Award in 2010.

András Szabó in Direkt36’s office. Photo: András Pethő

András joined Direkt36 in 2016 as a reporter and has worked as an editor since last year. He has worked on several high-profile stories, including articles on the background of the Paks II project, and Russian-Hungarian relations. He regularly covers the decision-making processes of the Orbán government. He played a leading role in a three-part series of articles on the government’s failed economic policies.

Unable to attend Tuesday’s award ceremony due to illness, Direkt36 co-founder and editor András Pethő accepted the award on behalf of him.

“The award is in a very good place this year. András is a journalist driven by the need to produce beautifully crafted material”, he said, adding that “an awful lot of meticulous work is required in this profession, and András is very good at it.”

The jury for the László Szente Prize was led by László Majtényi, President of the Eötvös Károly Institute. The members also included Szabolcs Dull, former editor-in-chief of Telex; Róbert Kotroczó, RTL’s news director; Judit Moskovics, reporter of RTL’s program called Házon kívül; and Réka Kinga Papp, a journalist who replaced Krisztina Hadas this year. At the beginning of the award ceremony, a minute’s silence was held in honor of Krisztina Hadas, who died in October 2024.

Because of András Szabó’s illness, his colleague András Pethő accepted the award on his behalf. Fotó: Szabolcs Panyi

In 2023, the jury awarded the László Szente Prize to another Direkt36 journalist, Zsuzsanna Wirth. She received the award for her series of articles on hospital-acquired infections—for which she and her colleague Kamilla Marton won one of the most prestigious Hungarian journalistic awards, the Transparency-Soma Prize in the same year. In 2022, Judit Moskovics, a reporter from RTL’s Házon kívül was awarded.

“Speaking out about the malpractices of the economy is one of the most important guarantees of democracy,” said jury president László Majtényi, explaining why our colleague András Szabó was awarded. At the beginning of his speech, he went all the way back in history to the 17th century, recalling that John Milton published his anti-censorship pamphlet in 1644. He added that freedom of the press was considered important by many, from Kant to Lajos Kossuth and István Széchenyi.

He continued by saying that András’s articles revealed the economic secrets of the Hungarian state. “The Hungarian economic policy is completely hidden from society by the government, and then a journalist and Direkt36 come along and expose these secrets. What we have read is pretty much the equivalent of a crime thriller or a psychological drama.”

“The work Direkt36 does is getting more valuable almost every day,” added Judit Moskovics, one of the jury members this year.