The ceremony was attended by House Speaker László Kövér and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Áder awarded the Order of Hungary, Grand Cross, to ship builder and navigator Nándor Fa and former Constitutional Court head Barnabás Lenkovics.

The Middle Cross of the Order was awarded to neuroendocrinologist Béla Halász, retired state secretary András Jávor, microbiologist István Nász, and economics professor Ferenc Vissi, literary historian János Gáspár Gróh, art historian Tamás Kieselbach, psychology professor Pál Rókusfalvy, Reformed pastor Dániel Szabó, former Hungarian ambassador Pál Varga Koritár, and philosophy historian Miklós Vető.

Áder recognised ethnographer Zoltán Kallós with the Kossuth Grand Prize. This year’s Kossuth Prize awardees include author Éva Fésűs, rock musician Károly Frenreisz, photographer Éva Keleti, opera singer Sylvia Sass, and actor László Tahi-Tóth.

The Széchenyi Prize was awarded to Reformed Bishop István Bogárdi Szabó, astrophysicist Zsolt Frei, mathematician András Némethi, music historian Tibor Tallián, historian László Tőkéczki, among others.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo Koszticsák Szilárd