Junior Prima Awards for theatre, film and dance were handed out

Five young artists received this year's Junior Prima Awards in the theatre, film and dance category on Tuesday in Budapest. Levente Szabó, Chairman and CEO of Hungarian Bankholding member Takarékbank presented the award and the cash prize to the talents selected from nearly fifty candidates.

The prize is awarded to artists under the age of thirty who excel among the best of their peers. This year five actors deserved the award: Ágnes Barta of the National Theatre; Dániel Benedek of the Csiky Gergely Theatre in Kaposvár; Petra Hartai of the Latinovits Theatre in Budaörs; Balázs Koltai-Nagy of the Katona József National Theatre in Kecskemét and the currently freelancer Benett Vilmányi.

At the request of the Takarékbank, theatres, professional and advocacy organisations nominated 49 candidates this year. The six-member jury – Gabriella Balogh, member of the Prima Primissima Foundation's Board of Trustees, director Csaba Káel, CEO of Müpa Budapest, Government Commissioner for Film, actor-director Gábor Máté, director of Katona József Theatre, Pál Oberfrank, actor-director and director of the Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém, Tibor Orlai, theatre producer and Péter Rudolf, actor and director of the Vígszínház – selected the five young talents who have earned the Junior Prima title.

„In 2017, Takarékbank was pleased and proud to become a patron of the Junior Prima in the Theatre, Film and Dance category. As a Hungarian-owned financial institution, we highly value the fundamental values that this art form brings to the communities we represent and care so much about," said Levente Szabó, Chairman and CEO of Takarékbank and deputy chief business officer of individual services of Hungarian Bankholding, citing as an example the capacity for continuous renewal based on tradition and the adaptation for development.

In 2022, the Junior Prima Awards were presented for the fourteenth time in the theatre, film and dance category; with this year's winners, 106 young Hungarian talents have already been awarded the recognition.

Photo: Imre Bellon