István Tari comes from Voivoidina (a region of Serbia with a large Hungarian minority); he left neither under the dictatorship, nor during the war, the poet Lajos Bencze said at the award ceremony held in the Gellért Hotel. Tari is an example to follow in terms of his loyalty to the place where he was born, he added.
"It is a good feeling to receive an acknowledgement from those whose activities, works and poetry I hold in the highest esteem," Tari said.
Ganbold Daváhügijn has translated about a hundred prose and poetry works by Hungary's most important authors and put them into a collection entitled Selected Works of Hungarian Literature, the Kossuth Prize-winning poet Ferenc Buda said.
Daváhügijn said he had found a bit of home in Hungarian literature, adding that he would continue his work with the language.
The swords - copies of a weapon from the Middle Ages - were presented by Bishop László Kiss-Rigó.
The composer Sándor Balassa premiered two new Balassi choral works with the Balassa Chorus of Esztergom at the ceremony.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
