September 22 2026.
The Mediaforum Association has announced the winners of the second quarter of 2026 of the Quality Journalism Awards, which recognize the most outstanding journalistic achievements. The grand prize went to Tamás Polgár Tóth, Gerda Kántor-Újvári, Sára Bodnár, Boldizsár Bereczki, and Fábián Matolcsy (Debreciner). Special awards were presented to Vilmos Bábel (444), András Dezső (Telex), Gerzson Nyárai (24.hu), as well as András Szabó and Patrik Galavits (Direkt36).
The Quality Journalism Award for the second quarter of 2026 was presented to the Debreciner team—Tamás Polgár Tóth, Gerda Kántor-Újvári, Sára Bodnár, Boldizsár Bereczki, and Fábián Matolcsy—for their documentary, “Akkuváros – Battery City – Factories in the Back Yard.”
The jury wrote:
“‘Akkuváros – Battery City – Factories in the Back Yard’” is a documentary running just over an hour, put together by the Debreciner team from existing footage. The film captures the expansion of Debrecen’s battery industry—or rather, the smaller human stories within a grand narrative that remains, in every detail, unexamined and perhaps unexaminable.
First and foremost, it tells the story of grass-roots resistance: the ordinary people who organized against these developments for years and continue to do so today. Beside laying out this tragic arc in clear, gripping sequence, the film acts as a tribute to those involved. Its most heart-wrenching and powerful scenes document their persistence and the vicious smear campaign directed against them.
Nor can we say they lost: while they could not stop the factories from being built, the shift in political landscape may yet allow them to exercise real civilian oversight over these plants.
If there is any truth to that tired—and usually meaningless—phrase, ‘I knew it, but I had no idea,’ Factories in the Back Yard embodies it. We all followed the expansion and abuses of CATL and its peers, and we knew the role the Orbán government played as both architect and accomplice. But reading about it is one thing; seeing it on screen is another. Shot with care, tightly edited, and skillfully cut—no doubt on a modest budget—it brings into sharp focus the scale of environmental destruction, the arrogance of power, and the courage of those who stood up to it.
Congratulations to the filmmakers—Tamás Polgár-Tóth, Gerda Kántor-Újvári, Boldizsár Bereczki, and Sára Bodnár—for this important work.”
Special Award Winners
Four additional works received special recognition for the second quarter:
Vilmos Bábel (444) — “We Don’t Question Witnesses in Handcuffs—Take the Handcuffs Off the Witness”
The jury commented:
“In March 2026, an incident occurred in Hungary that would make even hardened dictators pause: deploying secret services and armed forces, the Hungarian state engaged in what amounted to highway robbery. The incident involving the Ukrainian cash transporters is widely known, but 444 reporter Vilmos Bábel dug deeper, drawing on reliable sources to reconstruct what took place behind closed doors.
While the political angles speak for themselves, the human cost is what makes reading the piece so unsettling. Orders came from the top to intercept the shipment, detain the couriers, and inflate the event into a massive propaganda spectacle. Certain domestic officials did not merely carry out orders; they threw themselves into the task with zeal. There was no room for basic decency—not even a subtle nod to acknowledge the absurdity of the situation.
Counter-terrorism agents treated the Ukrainian couriers caught up in the government’s campaign with overt harshness: keeping them handcuffed for thirty hours, pulling ski masks backward over their faces during transfer to Záhony, and barely giving them room to breathe. What demanded such secrecy during their transport to the border? Plainly nothing—it was a display of power for its own sake.
Despite the outrageous nature of these events, Vilmos Bábel guides the reader through them with precision and emotional distance—a detachment that proves far more impactful than outrage when documenting state abuse. His thorough reporting is a testament to meticulous field research.”
András Dezső (Telex) — “Orbán Decided to Crack Down on the Ukrainian ‘Gold Convoy’; Even the Timing of the Raid Came from the Government”
Gerzson Nyárai (24.hu) — “Our Patients Are in Unworthy Conditions—A Day in the Psychiatric Ward of János Hospital”
The jury commented:
“There is nothing inherently revolutionary about a film crew stepping into a hospital ward, spending a day with staff, and producing a solid documentary. But in Hungary, this was off-limits for years. That is why, in 2026, watching a report on hospital conditions feels both unprecedented and jarring. Gerzson Nyárai’s piece inside the psychiatric ward of János Hospital handles a sensitive subject with care. What he reveals is stark: in the homeland of Ignác Semmelweis, taps run without hot water, showers back up to the ankles, and staff buy their own supplies—often repairing doorknobs or heating units out of pocket. Painting the walls in color is dismissed as too costly; in summer, swarms of basement mosquitoes plague the facility. Yet despite these conditions, the staff remain improbably optimistic, driven by a simple wish: that their patients can recover with dignity.”
András Szabó and Patrik Galavits (Direkt36) – “We Were Deceiving Ourselves” – Inside the Collapse of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz Party’s Campaign
The jury commented:
“In the run-up to the April elections, a growing number of insiders began speaking to the press—increasingly on the record—about the inner workings of the system. That trend continues today, if less dramatically.
Good journalism requires more than finding sources willing to talk; it means vetting competing narratives, providing context, and rendering complex events clear and vivid—especially when ‘insider tell-alls’ become a genre unto themselves. András Szabó and Patrik Galavits did precisely this. Six weeks after the election, they published the inside story of the Fidesz campaign’s collapse. By cross-referencing accounts and reconstructing critical moments of crisis, they provided an unprecedented look behind a curtain that had been drawn for sixteen years. They accomplished this using classic journalistic craft: laying out facts while offering the analysis needed to make sense of them.”
About the Award and Selection Process
Re-established this year after a four-year hiatus, the Quality Journalism Award was created in 1997 to honor exceptional Hungarian-language reporting. Entries were open to written, audio, and video pieces published between April 1 and June 30, 2026. Winners were selected by a professional jury appointed by member organizations of the Mediaforum Association.
Jury Members
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Endre B. Bojtár (Magyar Narancs)
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Zsombor György (Magyar Hang)
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Attila Mong (Átlátszó)
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Krisztián Puskár (Partizán)
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Péter Uj (444)
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Zsuzsanna Wirth (Direkt36)
Evaluation Criteria Submissions were judged on technical craftsmanship, literary quality, topical importance, the depth of verified facts, and originality of approach.
The award is sponsored by HOLD Asset Management and Norbert Streitmann.
Submissions for the third quarter of 2026
Nominations for the third quarter of 2026 (work published between July 1 and September 30, 2026) are open through October 10. Entries may be sent to minosegiujsagiras@mediaforum.hu.
More Information:
Website: mediaforum.hu
Email: minosegiujsagiras@mediaforum.hu
Event photography by Viktória Labancz.
Translated using AI with human oversight.