Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award Explained

The Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award is a European award for literature presented in Budapest since 1997. The native form of this name is Balassi Bálint-emlékkard (Balassi Bálint-emlékkard). This award commemorates the 16th century Hungarian poet Bálint Balassi. The memorial sword is presented annually to an outstanding Hungarian poet, and to a foreign poet for excellence in translation of Hungarian literature, including the works of Balassi. The sword itself is a replica of those sabres that the 16th century Hungarian cavalry wore during the sieges of fortresses. They are the work of a contemporary swordsmith. This award is presented each year on Bálint's (Valentine's) Day, February 14, in the city of Buda. The celebration venue is traditionally the Hotel Gellért.^[1]

The advisory board

The founder of the new award is Pal Molnar journalist,^[2] his fellows are Gabriella Lőcsei journalist, József Zelnik writer^[3] and András Rubovszky hotelier. In addition, all past award winners automatically become board members, so the literary profession makes up the majority.

Global focus

In the beginning only Hungarian poets received the Balassi sword, but since 2002, each year, a foreign literary translator has also been recognized. Since then the board has viewed Balassi's sword as a literary prize of European scope. But since then it has been received by Asian and American poets as well, making it an award of global scope.

Balassi Mass

Since 2008, the Balint Balassi Memorial Swords have been blessed during a Balassi Mass^[4] held a few days before the award ceremony. On January 25, 2013, in the presence of some three hundred Hungarians, Bishop Laszlo Kiss-Rigo blessed the two swords during a Mass celebrated in Saint Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.

The prize itself

In addition to the sharp, dangerous weapon – which is made by József Fazekas armourer^[5] – the winners receive a diploma, a limited-edition porcelain statue from the famous Herend manufacture^[6] and a bottle of wine. The particular wine is selected at a national tasting competition in the preceding year, and as a result this champion wine is entitled to don the “Balassi's sword” label.

Past recipients

• 1997 Bálint Tóth^[7]
• 1998 Kornél Döbrentei and Albert Wass
• 1999 Gáspár Nagy
• 2000 Ferenc Buda^[8] and Attila Gérecz (posthumously)
• 2001 József Utassy^[9]
• 2002 Árpád Farkas and, for translation, Ernesto Rodrigues (Lisbon,)
• 2003 Benedek Kiss and, for translation, Teresa Worowska (Warsaw,)
• 2004 László Vári Fábián and, for translation, Armando Nuzzo^[10] (Rome,)
• 2005 István Ferenczes^[11] and, for translation, Tuomo Lahdelma^[12] (Jyväskylä,)
• 2006 Sándor Csoóri and, for translation, Lucie Szymanowska (Prague,)
• 2007 János Csokits^[13] and, for translation, Dursun Ayan^[14] (Ankara,)
• 2008 Simon Serfőző and, for translation, Yuri Gusev (Moscow,)
• 2009 István Tari^[15] and, for translation, Ganbold Daváhügijn^[16] (Ulaanbaatar,)
• 2010 István Ágh^[17] and, for translation, John Ridland^[18] (Santa Barbara,)
• 2011 Menyhért Tamás and, for translation, Ivan Canev (Sofia,)
• 2012 József Tornai and, for translation, Gabriel Zanmaku Olembe (Kinshasa,)
• 2013 Márton Kalász and, for translation, Jean-Luc Moreau (Paris, France)
• 2014 Ferenc Kulcsár and, for translation, Sander Liivak (Rakvere, Estonia)
• 2015 Anna Kiss and, for translation, Muzaffar Dzasokhov (Vladikavkaz, Ossetia)
• 2016 Sándor Agócs and, for translation, Harada Kiyomi (Tokyo, Japan)
• 2017 János Szikra and, for translation, Nelson Ascher (São Paulo,)
• 2018 László Lövétei Lázár and, for translation, Marin Georgiev (Sofia,)
• 2019 Gábor Nagy and, for translation, Paskal Gilevski (Skopje,)
• 2020 Noémi László and, for translation, Vahram Martirosyan (Yerevan,)
• 2021 László Kürti and, for translation, Ross Gillett (Melbourne,)
• 2022 Lajos Bence and, for translation, Elena Lavinia Dumitru (Roma,)
• 2023 Zalán Tibor and, for translation, Peter V. Czipott (San Diego,)

Sources

• Balassa, Bálint . 3 . 240.
• Web site: Kard . Balassi.eu . 3 April 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202856/http://www.balassi.eu/Kard.htm . 3 March 2016 . dead . — Past recipients
• Petőfi — Irodalmi Múzeum
• https://web.archive.org/web/20070602053029/http://www.lotuskitap.com/dusunensiyaset/makale.asp?d=a&id=60 — Lotuskitap.Com
• Web site: Kard ki kard – Litera | Az irodalmi portál . Litera.hu . 3 April 2017. — Litera.Hu
• Web site: Felvidék.ma . Kulcsár Ferenc személyében először kapott felvidéki Balassi Bálint-emlékkardot | Felvidék.ma . Felvidek.ma . 3 April 2017. — felvidek.ma
• Web site: Dormán László . Kulcsár Ferenc: "csak az tud teremteni, beszélni, akiben erős a lélek és a hit" | Felvidék.ma . Felvidek.ma . 3 April 2017. — Report on felvidek.
• Web site: Balassi-mise a Szegedi Dómban – a Telin TV összeállítása . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/oaOfAS_Nu_k . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube . 2015-01-23 . 3 April 2017. — Balassi Mass in Szeged, Hungary, 2012.
• Web site: Térkép – Balassi mise . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/0-qBhMGPYGY . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube . 3 April 2017. — Balassi Mass in Vienna, Austria, 2013
• Web site: Balassi Bálint-emlékkard szentelés Gyulán . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/QGyj96OgfiA . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube . 2014-02-04 . 3 April 2017. — Balassi Mass in Gyula, Hungary, 2014.
• Web site: Vásárhelyen szentelték fel a Balassi-kardokat . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/WK-dUHdAveU . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube . 3 April 2017. — Balassi Mass in Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary, 2015.
• Web site: Kultura.hu . Kultúra.hu | Kardot kapott a japán versfordító . Kultura.hu . 2016-02-15 . 3 April 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160216045210/http://www.kultura.hu/kardot-kapott-japan . 16 February 2016 . dead . — Celebration in Budapest, 2016.
• Web site: John Ridland Receives Hungarian Sword for Translation . Independent.com . 3 April 2017. — Interview with Ridland about the sword
• Web site: MolnarPal . Molnarpal.hu . 3 April 2017. — The founder's home page
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110717061437/http://kultura.hu/main.php?folderID=911&ctag=articlelist&iid=1&articleID=301633 — Ridland is awarded
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110717061211/http://kultura.hu/main.php?folderID=1094&articleID=279611&ctag=&iid=11 — Culture.Hu
• Web site: Balassi Bálint . Babel Web Anthology :: The page of Balassi Bálint, Hungarian Works . Babelmatrix.org . 3 April 2017. — Babelmatrix
• Web site: Babel Web Anthology :: Petőfi Sándor: John the Valiant (detail) (János vitéz (részlet) in English) . Babelmatrix.org . 3 April 2017. — John the Valiant from S. Petőfi and J. Ridland
• Web site: Babel Web Anthology :: Mészöly Miklós: Миклош Месей – Высокая школа (Magasiskola in Russian) . Babelmatrix.org . 3 April 2017. — A translation from Yuri Gusev
• Web site: Csokonai Vitéz Mihály . Babel Web Anthology :: Csokonai Vitéz Mihály: À esperança (A reményhez in Portuguese) . Babelmatrix.org . 3 April 2017. — A translation from Ernesto Rodrigues
• Web site: MédiaKlikk . M1 . hu . 3 April 2017. — News about Dursun Ayan's book
• Web site: kormend.hu . Kortárs irodalom Balassi bűvöletében . Kormend.hu . 2017-03-15 . 3 April 2017. — Kormend.hu
• Web site: 2017. April 03. Monday . The Tokaji Aszú of the Dereszla winery was given to poets | Trademagazin . Trademagazin.hu . 3 April 2017. — Balassi Sword Wine Muster
• Web site: Oszétiába került az egyik idei Balassi Bálint-emlékkard . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/C37JQUKd_ik . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube . 2015-02-17 . 3 April 2017. — Celebration '2015
• Web site: Magyar Nemzeti Digitális Archívum • Bácsalmásra és Brazíliába utazik a Balassi-kard . Mandarchiv.hu . 3 April 2017. — Article about 21. celebration — Los Angeles Best Deals
• Lövétei kapta a legrangosabb magyar irodalmi díjat
• Huszonharmadszor adták át a Molnár Pál által alapított díjat
• Í legrangosabb magyar irodalmi díj körmendi költőé lett
• https://gondola.hu/cikkek/118786-Csok_a_vegvari_szablyanak.html
• http://kormend.hu/Hirek/Az_otodik_kontinensre_is_eljutott_a_Balassikard.html
• https://magyarnemzet.hu/kultura/2022/02/embersegrol-peldat-vitezsegrol-format
• https://index.hu/kultur/2022/02/15/balassi-balint-emlekkard-irodalmi-dij-ujvidek-romania/

External links

• • Award celebration, 2010. (video)
• Award celebration, 2009
• Award celebration, 2008
• Award celebration, 2007
• Award celebration, 2007
• AllThatIsHungarian minden-ami-magyar.hu
• tertia.hu
• kulturport.hu
• mno.hu
• kulturport.hu
• munder.wordpress.com
• demokrata.hu
• musorujsag.mno.hu
• litera.hu
• Osset translator
• Official page

Notes and References

1. Web site: Danubius Hotel Gellért . Danubius Hotel Gellért, Budapest . Danubiushotels.com . 2014-08-01 . 2016-08-27.
2. Web site: MolnarPal . Molnarpal.hu . 2016-08-27.
3. Web site: Magyar Művészeti Akadémia tagjainak adatlapja . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721112058/http://www.mmakademia.hu/database/membersform.php?ID=131 . 2011-07-21 .
4. Web site: Kathpress | Katholische Presseagentur Österreich . Kathweb.at . 2016-08-27.
5. Web site: Pyraster home page . 2010-03-31 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100112213533/http://www.pyraster.hu/start_e.html . 2010-01-12 .
6. Web site: Herend – Herend in the Castle . 2010-03-31 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090830063206/http://www.herend.com/en/aktualis . 2009-08-30 .
7. Web site: A magyar irodalom története 1945–1975 / TÓTH BÁLINT (1929). Mek.niif.hu . 2016-08-27.
8. Web site: Magyar Művészeti Akadémia tagjainak adatlapja . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090104022540/http://www.mmakademia.hu/database/membersform.php?ID=30 . 2009-01-04 .
9. Web site: Utassy József | Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum . hu. Pim.hu . 2016-08-27.
10. Web site: It works! . Olasz.btk.ppke.hu . 2016-08-27 .
11. Web site: FERENCZES István . hu. Pontkiado.hu . 2016-08-27.
12. Web site: Humanistinen tiedekunta . fi. Jyu.fi . 2016-08-27.
13. Web site: Csokits J?Nos . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100429182753/http://www.kortarsonline.hu/9906/csokits.htm . 2010-04-29 .
14. Web site: Archived copy . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091217213743/http://tumgazeteler.com/haberleri/dursun-ayan . 2009-12-17 .
15. Web site: Tari István . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110710130307/http://www.dinnyes.com/nyit/szabadiskola/historia/tari_istvan.html . 2011-07-10 .
16. Web site: Ganbold . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100723203952/http://www.kultours.hu/tavol-kelet/20-ganbold . 2010-07-23 .
17. Web site: Ágh István | Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum . hu. Pim.hu . 2016-08-27.
18. Web site: UCSB Department of English . 2010-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100617115332/http://english.ucsb.edu/people-detail.asp?PersonID=35 . 2010-06-17 .