Established by the President of the NMHH in 2014, the Magyari Endre award is presented every year to two individuals at the most, for their decades-long outstanding work in the development of the telecommunications market and in recognition of their lifetime achievements. The award is traditionally presented by the NMHH on the World Telecommunication Day on 17 May, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year only the names of the awardees were announced. At the time, President of the NMHH Monika Karas announced that there would be an in-house ceremony in the autumn, which finally took place on 14 September, at the ground floor meeting room of the NMHH’s head office in Ostrom utca. Precautions were still a top priority: the participants of the limited audience wore masks and restrained from shaking hands when receiving the awards.

Before presenting the awards, Monika Karas explained that “despite the challenging circumstances, we must not ignore our celebrations and the professionals who earned our respect with their lifetime achievements. When talking about decades of outstanding professional performance, perhaps a few months of delay is of no significance.”

In her introductory speech, the President highlighted the fact that the careers of the two professionals were built day after day into a truly unique achievement, over many long years. “The telecommunications sector is one in which every pinnacle only leads on to the next one, therefore I feel it’s particularly important to come together, even in small numbers, and dedicate an occasion to them, thanking them for all they’ve achieved. Perhaps it’s hard to see in our day-to-day lives what is clearly visible from above: without their efforts many things that we now take for granted would be different.”

The awardees: András Czuczy and Iván Schmideg

Monika Karas és András Czuczy

András Czuczy, head of the NMHH’s Frequency Licensing Unit, was already involved in the foundation of the NMHH’s legal predecessor, the Spectrum Management Institute, which seceded from Magyar Posta (Hungarian Post) in 1989. He was responsible for establishing the current form of the official licensing system of spectrum management, the FMS (Frequency Management System) and its continuous development. The hallmark of his work is his precision and intense interest in new solutions. Both of these qualities were required in the course of the further development of the Spectrum Management Information System (STIR), resulting in a seamless transition. In addition to the experts of the telecommunications industry, his decades-long, outstanding work was also witnessed by the organisers of the Sziget Festival, Balaton Sound, World Aquatics Championship (FINA) and Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix events, who could rely on his expertise in providing frequencies that were indispensable for staging mass events. His career, which is exceptional even in international comparison, serves as an inspiring example for the new generations of professionals.

Monika Karas and Iván Schmideg

Iván Schmideg has a PhD in Technical Sciences and is an honourary associate professor, who worked as an instructor at universities in Budapest and Hamburg. As the Head of the Science Department at the Institute for Electrical Power Research, he oversaw the development of the digital measuring data collection systems. For 14 years, he served as the Deputy Head of Department at the National Technical Development Committee, achieving a great deal in the field of domestic telecommunication development. As the head of the Infocommunications Authority’s international unit, he made outstanding achievements in the correspondence with international partner authorities and European Union organisations. Even after his retirement, he stayed in contact with the profession: as an external advisor, he provided assistance to the NMHH and its legal predecessor in the fields of roaming regulation and digital switchover. He is currently an active member of the Expert Committee of the Scientific Association for Infocommunications. His unparalleled, 65-year-long career is a fine example, not just in terms of its duration, but also its content and quality, for future and current professionals alike. Iván Schmideg was also the recipient of the Baross Gábor and Kozma László awards and the Gold Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Republic.

On previous recipients and the person the award was named after

In 2015 István Bartolits and Károly Fiala, in 2016 László Győrbíró and András Somogyi, in 2017 Imre Bölcskei and József Bugyi, in 2018 Erika Madarász and Zoltán Bánhidi, and in 2019 László Pados received the commemorative award.

The award is named after mechanical engineer Dr. Endre Magyari (1900–1968), one of the pioneers of Hungarian radio broadcasting, who was the first to design a high-powered radio telephone transmitter and is also renowned for launching radio broadcasting services in Hungary. He was responsible for designing the national radio network and is also known for coining the Hungarian term for telecommunications.