Winners of the 2021 Central European and Hungarian Studies Award Announced

14 July 2021

The Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Central European and Hungarian Studies Award. This award, which is made possible thanks to the generous contribution of the Canadian Hungarian Cultural Society of Edmonton, is awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student in the Faculty of Arts whose work demonstrates excellence in either the study of any aspect of Central Europe with a Hungarian component or any aspect with Hungarian studies.


This year, we are especially pleased to announce the following award recipients:
Matthew Boonstra
Tristan Ellenberger
Jack Kelly
Grace Li
Laura Normand
Csongor Szepesvari
Gloria Wan
Hibaq Warsame
Ada Wright

Many of the award-winning papers examined Hungary through a political lens; one paper constructing a nuanced case study examining the nature, causes and consequences of democratic backsliding in Hungary and another an examination of the government's attacks on pluralism and erosion of the independence of the judiciary in Hungary. Another paper, which explored nationalism and patriotism in music, focused on two of Hungary’s most important and most influential 20th century composers, Bela Bartok, and Zoltan Kodaly. The depth, breadth, and quality of these papers highlights Central European Studies as an exciting area of research for many University of Alberta students.
 
The awards, valuing $500 each, required that the student be nominated by a faculty member or instructor in recognition of a high-level of achievement in this area of study. Faculty who wish to nominate a student for this award in 2022 are asked to do so directly by submitting their nomination in writing to Wirth Institute director, Dr. Alexander Carpenter: acarpent@ualberta.ca. The deadline for next year’s award is April 30th, 2022.
 
We congratulate these nine students and hope they will continue to pursue this rich and evolving area of research as they progress in their studies.