Hungarian Art Competition "Create Freely" Presents Its First U.S. Awards in New York

Hungarian Art Competition "Create Freely" Presents Its First U.S. Awards in New York (Source:MTI) – The first U.S. awards of the Hungarian art competition "Create Freely – Artmosphere" were presented in New York at the building of the Hungarian Consulate General. The event, which included an exhibition, was attended by distinguished jury members and the founder.

As part of the initiative launched in Hungary in 2022, this year young people aged 8 to 20 were able to enter from the United States as well, in three age categories with their drawings. With this, the competition has now expanded to three continents, providing young people with the opportunity to present their visual art to the public. The head of the American jury was Csenge Palotai, Director of the Liszt Institute New York. Members of the jury evaluating the entries included Szabolcs Takács, Hungary’s Ambassador to Washington; pianist Ádám György; fashion model Nelly Pákh—whose husband, art collector and businessman Imre Pákh, also participated in the selection process. The jury also included actress Lili Bordán; Virág Vida, a Los Angeles-based film journalist; Laura Klemm, a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York; and visual artist Steve Balogh. Fashion designer Kiki Wang from California also accepted the invitation to join the jury. Csenge Palotai told MTI that the Liszt Institute reached out to nearly 80 educational institutions across 25 states in the United States, addressing thousands of American and Hungarian students. Next year, they aim to reach an even broader audience within the U.S. Following the awards ceremony, Norbert Horváth, founder of the artistic initiative and chair of its international jury, reflected on the experiences of the 2025 competition. He pointed out how differently a child from the United Arab Emirates, a young child living in America—whether Hungarian or local—or a Hungarian or Italian participant can perceive and interpret the same question or theme. "I believe we succeeded in realizing our goal of standardizing the competition process, the evaluation criteria, and the jury’s composition, so that submissions from different countries could be judged in a consistent manner" he said. The head of Artmosphere Global added that the international expansion of the artistic initiative also shapes Hungary’s image worldwide. It has grown beyond being a simple drawing competition—it now serves as a community for young artists from many countries and creates opportunities for building relationships with international partners. Ádám György, a New York-based pianist and founder of the New York Liszt Ferenc International Piano Competition, spoke to MTI as a member of the visual arts competition jury. He said, “The meeting points of the arts are always exciting, and in visual arts, we also seek the same depth we find in music—messages, stories.” Actress Lili Bordán, who is also the mother of a 2 and a 4-year-old, commented on her experience as a jury member, saying, “Where I connect with all of this is through the creativity of children, which is wonderfully pure, original, and expressive.” Also present at the award ceremony was Attila Vári, Olympic and world champion former water polo player, in his role as president of the Civil Way Foundation. He noted that in 2024, the year of the Olympics, the Civil Way Foundation began its collaboration with the Create Freely Foundation. He emphasized that, in line with the mission of the foundation he leads, the youth art competition places special focus on supporting disadvantaged young people. Virág Vida, a Los Angeles-based member of the Create Freely U.S. competition, pointed out—based on her experience reviewing the submissions—that on the West Coast of the United States, and especially in California around Los Angeles, young people's perspectives are influenced by the moving image and by the fact that they live in the center of both American and global film production. This influence is reflected not only in the artistic techniques they use, but also in their choice of themes and overall concepts. Following the awards ceremony in New York, the best works will also be exhibited on Thursday at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., where a second awards event will be held.