On 19 April, Reporter Slam continues with the debut of multiple award-winning national photojournalists. This is the German format where journalists talk about their work and best reports on stage. This time the focus will be on photojournalism. Gergely Litkai, comedian of Dumaszínház, has taken on the role of host of the Photoreporter Slam.
András Hajdú D. is a freelance photojournalist who has worked all over the world, from the Beijing Olympics to the Congolese rainforest, and who also shoots documentary photography, film and multimedia. So far he has won 35 awards in Hungarian Press Photo competitions, four Grand Prizes and twice the US Pictures of the Year.
István Huszti, former photojournalist of Telex and Index, who has been working as a photojournalist for more than 30 years, has photographed the most important events in Hungary after the system change. He twice won the Grand Prize of the Hungarian Press Photography Competition, most recently in 2023, when he was awarded both the Honourable Mention and the Hungarian Press Prize for his photo reports on the war in Ukraine.
Bernadett Szabó is a Reuters photojournalist, formerly worked for Népszabadság, who spent the last 25 years photographing the 2006 protests, the red sludge disaster, the Tokyo Olympics and the war in Ukraine, among other events. She won the Pulitzer Prize for his pictures of the refugee crisis.
Péter Zsolnai, an economist-turned-photojournalist who covers daily political and social events for Blikk, won the Hungarian Press Photo Contest in 2018 with his photos of the anti-slavery protests.
“The photographers are the ones who are closest to the events. Their pictures not only bring events to life, but often they also ‘sell’ the articles. Yet in text-oriented Hungarian newsrooms, they are not held in the same esteem. With this slam, we want to change this a bit with the help of brilliant Hungarian photojournalists” – said Zsolt Bogár, the organizer of the Photoreporter Slam. The Hungarian Press Photo Exhibition is taking place at the same time, so it’s worth coming to both.
András Hajdú D. specialized in human-centered documentary photography. “A friend of mine once said that there are people who glow in the dark, and I tell their stories. Because these people motivate you and me: to do good, to live a fuller life, to be happier.”
According to István Huszti, when there is so much political manipulation, the role of the independent photographer becomes more important. “In the current state of the press, it is even more important to be there to show what is really happening in Hungary and beyond the borders. Especially since the war is right next door.”
Bernadett Szabó loves taking pictures of everything, she loves photography itself and being there where history is happening: ‘Although photography doesn’t change the world, I still naively believe that if at least one person is triggered by what I show, then it’s worth it. So yes, I still believe in my profession.”
What Peter Zsolnai likes about the Photoreporter Slam is that it gives you a real insight into the process of creation and brings you closer to stories that happen with photojournalists. “One of the biggest struggles one has to fight is with oneself, to be able to adapt to the fast-paced environment, to find subjects besides the daily work that keep one’s curiosity and creative spirit alive. All this in a media environment in which credible photojournalism has to contend with fake news, artificial intelligence, political populism and all the effects of media market concentration.”
Ringier Hungary joined the project as a sponsor when the format was launched in Hungary, because we believe, together with the organisers, that journalism and investigative journalism are of the highest value. Independent media strives every day to show us the reality of our daily lives, helping us to make the best decisions.
The main sponsor of the production is the Goethe Institut Budapest.