The Soma Prize was founded by his friends in 2001 in memory of the late Soma Gőbölyös, an outstanding journalist who died young.  The main aim of the prize is to support the genre in which he was most active, investigative journalism. 

This is how a good friend of his wrote about Soma: 

Soma was a journalist at heart: determined and relentless in his pursuit of the truth beneath the surface. He chose his subjects with flair, and often treated his subjects in an idolatrous manner. He was fascinated by stories that did not fit comfortably into the usual patterns of journalism, and thus, he rarely dealt with political corruption, for example. Rather, he focused his sociologically and morally motivated investigations on exposing social and business phenomena and processes that ranged from the sadly ridiculous to the truly tragic. 

He was as interested in the activities of huckster agents or fraudulent financial schemes as he was in the workings of the housing mafia and the blackmail techniques employed by its members. He saw it as part of his vocation to expose the hidden and dishonest choreography of free competition that the dominant players in the market follow to destroy their competitors. Cases that at first sight might seem insignificant, such as the illegal production of TV broadcast decoders, counterfeiting of wine or the black market in computer components, have become a matter of indictment under his pen. An indictment against the mismanagement of the economy and public affairs, and the failure to enforce the law. He has kept a keen eye on business and public svindlerism, uncovering and exposing fraud in many small and large corners of life. 

Soma approached his subjects with humour, but never condescending, sceptical but never cynical, with the sensitivity and independence of a cultural anthropologist. His work has always been imbued with, and sometimes perhaps even somewhat restrained by, a morality expressed in compassion for the marginalised and social groups squeezed out from society. In his articles on guardianship institutions and the homeless, the intensity of his compassion was also fuelled by his own childhood experiences. 

In Soma, solidarity with the weak was combined with a commitment to autonomy and the dignity of the individual. The issue of euthanasia has become for him an essential paradigm for defending the autonomy and dignity of the individual. He embraced it passionately, until, by his own admission, all his attempts to place himself sympathetically in the perspective of a dying person failed. His frquent radio reports on euthanasia echo hauntingly in the ears of her friends and family, those who witnessed her fight against cancer. That fight ended on 27 August 2000, at the age of 36. 

The award has been presented by Transparency International Hungary since 2016 

Transparency International Hungary became the co-host of the award for the first time in 2016. We were happy to take over this task from the Soma Foundation as TI-Hungary is committed to investigative journalism and the freedom of speech and media freedom. Fact-finding is an important part of TI-Hungay’s fight against corruption in more than 100 countries. 

PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE “TRANSPARENCY – SOMA” AWARD  

Who can be nominated?  

The author(s) of an investigative article or series of articles, whether published or unpublished in the year of the call for entries, that sheds light on a social, political or economic wrongdoing in Hungary. Articles that have previously been awarded a prize in the Transparency International Hungary’s iMentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism are not eligible.  

Who can nominate 

Anyone. The person who wishes to win the prize can apply for it, but it can also be nominated by another individual or organisation, or by an editorial board.  

What should the application contain 

We expect the writing on which the nomination is based to be in Word (.doc or .docx) format (if not otherwise possible, entries in PDF format are also accepted).  

Also:  

• if the article has been published, its link in the case of online media, and the published article in pdf format in the case of print media;  

• if the article has not been published by the deadline for submission, it must be published by 31 December of the year of the call. Otherwise the article will not be accepted by the jury.  

• the name and contact details of the candidate and the name and contact details of the nominator (e-mail address, postal address and telephone number);  

• if a request for rectification has been made in relation to the article, the applicant must inform the publisher of the call.  

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING 

Submitted entries must meet the following formal requirements:  

• the original article or series must be in Hungarian  

• interactive content (tables, graphs, embedded videos, etc.) may be included as illustrations, but the jury will primarily evaluate the textual content  

• only video materials (documentaries, interviews, etc.) will not be accepted!  

• In the case of a single article, the submission must not exceed 70,000 characters (including spaces), and in the case of a series of articles, 120,000 characters (including spaces). If the series of articles would exceed the length limit, please choose the submission that you consider to be of the best quality and most informative.  

Where to send the application and by what deadline 

Entries must be sent to the address specified in the call for entries by the deadline specified in the call for entries. 

The applications received will be judged by a professional jury including:  

• Zsolt Bogár, journalist and lead editor of the Hungarian edition of DW  

• József Péter Martin, Executive Director of TI Hungary   

• András Stumpf, journalist and co-founder of Válasz Online   

• Ágnes Urbán, Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, Director of the Mérték Media Monitor 

After more than two decades, András Lőke, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the József Gőbölyös “Soma” Foundation, one of the founders of the Award, decided to step down as Chairman of the Transparency Soma Award Jury in 2023. András has rendered unparalleled services in the establishment of the Award, and TI Hungary and the TI-Soma Award Jury would like to thank him for his persistent work over two decades. Following the resignation of András Lőke, the jury decided jointly to elect Zsolt Bogár, journalist and lead editor of the Hungarian edition of Deutsche Welle, as a member of the jury.  

For further questions, please contact us at somadij@transparency.hu .