Marking International Romani Day, State Secretary Attila Fülöp presented the Balázs János Award to three people at a ceremony in the interior ministry on Tuesday.
Addressing the event, Fülöp said that the career achieved by the award’s recipients sends the message “to us all that catching up with mainstream society is the result of hard work”. “It is the result not of their personal individual fight, but of teamwork,” he said, adding that “this teamwork” was also supported by the government through the network of community houses and vocational training schools set up for Roma children and youth across the country. This year’s award recipients include Ernő Báder, the national art director of the Maltese Symphony Programme of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, János Boda, production manager at the Roma Production Office, and Éva Balogh Molnár, a teacher at the Arany János Primary School of Karcag. The Balázs János Award is given since 2019 mostly to Roma people in recognition of their outstanding achievements in promoting Roma education and culture and advancing the social inclusion of disadvantaged people.