The Buday Competition has been announced every year since 2023 to pay fitting tribute to the memory of László Buday, former director of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) and a renowned literary figure, who was born in the building of the Csányi Foundation’s Community House in Pécs.
A record number of 119 entries arrived from all parts of the country for the fourth edition of the László Buday Statistical Infographic, Presentation, and Short Story Competition. Once again, applicants created exceptionally high-quality and creative works this year. The awards were presented in a solemn ceremony in Budapest on November 6 at the headquarters of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). The event, which has now ripened into a tradition, was organized jointly by the Csányi Foundation, the KSH, the host Hungarian Statistical Association, and the Association for Local History.
Higher education students had the opportunity to process topics such as agriculture, international comparisons, or time use in the form of infographics, while students in grades 7–13 could do so via presentations. Participants in the short story competition could apply with works based on current statistical data under the title “Hungary in 100 Years.” The submitted entries were evaluated by a professional jury in which all partner organizations participated.
On the day of the award ceremony, participants were able to tour the KSH headquarters, watch a short film about Dr. László Buday’s life and work, and attend a professional lecture by Department Head Péter Tóth entitled On Agriculture – Farm Structure Survey 2026. During the opening ceremony, representatives of the organizations welcomed the applicants and their companions, during which Operational Director Dr. Miklós Radoszáv emphasized that this is no longer merely about preserving tradition, but an active, living professional and literary series involving active participants that has grown into a prestigious event over the years with nationwide coverage. Naturally, the Pécs beneficiaries—the original visionaries of the event—were also featured with their research:
Adolescents in Social Media – Pécs Group 1 (preparing mentor: Luca Borsy)
Survey on the Environmental Awareness of Upper Primary School Students – Pécs Group 2 (preparing mentor: Henriett Rang)
Healthy or Just Long-Lived? – The Health Status of Hungary and the EU in the Mirror of Numbers – Pécs Group 3 (preparing mentor: Andrea Bálint-Orsós)
Prior to the announcement of the results, Enikő Sármány on recorder and Levente Sipos on piano delivered musical performances, which was followed by the laudatory speeches for the awardees read by representatives of the jury. The traditional Buday commemorative medals—founded by the Board of Trustees of the Csányi Foundation in 2023 and designed by mentor Roland Szabó—were presented to the winners by the leaders and representatives of the four organizations. Following the award presentation, the first-place winners presented their award-winning works themselves. The youngest recognized author was a 7th-grade short story writer, while the short story category was won by Boróka Süle, a Foundation beneficiary from Szentes.
The submitted works clearly demonstrate how much can be told through numbers. All podium finishers in the infographic category chose the topic of time use: the winning entry explores why 15–19-year-old girls have 44 fewer minutes of free time per day than boys; the second-place entry parallels the structure of urban and rural daily routines; and the third-place entry follows hour-by-hour how a day is spent in Hungary. The special prize-winning piece compares the PISA results of Hungarian students with those of other countries. Among the special prize candidates, only 1 point decided the ranking, so Hanna Szép, a beneficiary from Mohács, received a “special-special prize” and commendation. The presentations range from the differing time utilization of genders and generations, through population trends in Hungary and the European Union, to international comparisons of health status, while the special prize-winning author duo examined how work performed on family farms shapes students’ daily schedules using their own questionnaire survey. The short stories imagine the Hungary of 2126 mostly through the lens of climate change and population decline—with a dried-up Great Plain, a shrunken Lake Balaton, and depopulating villages—yet the stories are also about dialogue between past and future, remembrance, and hope.
The Awardees:
Infographic (Higher Education Students)
1st Place: Olivér Egri (University of Miskolc), with his infographic titled “The 44-Minute Gap”
2nd Place: Veronika Végső (Széchenyi István University, Győr), with her work on the topic of urban and rural time use
3rd Place: Kristóf Wolfram (Óbuda University, Budapest), with his entry titled “A Day in Hungary”
Special Prize: Ágoston Kis (Budapest University of Technology and Economics), for his work “How Tilted is the Tower of PISA?”
Special-Special Prize & Commendation: Zsófia Csonka (University of Pécs), for her work “What Isn’t Paid For Isn’t Seen”
Special-Special Prize & Commendation: Hanna Szép (European Forensic Institute, Malta / Csányi Foundation), for her work “What is Knowledge Worth?”
Presentation (Grades 7–13)
1st Place: Dorottya Papp, Grade 12 (István Dobó Grammar School, Eger), with her presentation “24 Hours on the Scale”
2nd Place: Máté Balogh, Grade 11 (BMSZC Lajos Petrik Bilingual Technical School, Budapest), with his project “Demographic Trends in Hungary and the European Union”
3rd Place: Nóra Veres, Grade 12 (Ferenc Verseghy Grammar School, Szolnok), with her slide deck “Health Status in International Comparison”
Special Prize: Ralf Tylus and András Vigh, Grade 10 (Zalaegerszeg SZC Keszthely Technical School of Economics, Keszthely), with their research “Time Use of Students Living in Families With and Without a Family Farm”
Short Story (Grades 7–13)
1st Place: Boróka Eszter Süle, Grade 11 (Mihály Horváth Grammar School, Szentes / Csányi Foundation), with her short story titled “Greetings from 2026”
2nd Place: Mila Nagy-Erdősi, Grade 7 (Márton Bálint Primary and Grammar School, Törökbálint), with her story “The Forbidden Fruit”
3rd Place: Anna Molnár, Grade 11 (Ferenc Verseghy Grammar School, Szolnok), with her narrative “The Memory of Lake Balaton”
Special Prize: Írisz Olívia Pocsveiler, Grade 11 (TaNext Academy, Budapest), for her story “It’s Only 2120”
Together with the co-organizers, the Csányi Foundation congratulates all the award winners and thanks the preparing mentors, teachers, and parents for their work. We owe our gratitude to all organizers and colleagues who contributed to the success of the event, as well as to the Foundation for supporting the success of the Buday Competition again this year!
András Gál, organizer, mentor – Jászberény
