The Moholy-Nagy Award jury explained that their nomination not only acknowledges their exceptionally rich and outstanding professional achievements but also signifies a return to the institution's foundational values, honouring them in a way that resonates deeply with the MOME community. 

Social researcher, Széchenyi Prize-winning professor emerita Ágnes Kapitány, DSc, and social researcher, writer and poet, and Széchenyi Prize-winning university tutor Gábor Kapitány, DSc have been actively involved in Hungarian higher education for over 40 years, teaching at institutions such as the Department of Cultural Anthropology at ELTE, the doctoral schools of ELTE and the University of Pécs, and, since 2000, at MOME. Here, they played a pivotal role in establishing and modernising the Design Culture and Art and Design Management programmes, alongside the accreditation of the MOME Doctoral School’s PhD programme and continue to shape the university's academic life to this day. 

Their academic careers have been intertwined from the very beginning. Over the years, their extensive body of work has chronicled the transformation of social values and value systems, from the time of Hungary’s regime change to the present day. Together, they have published more than thirty books and over three hundred papers. Their combined oeuvre is a cornerstone in fields such as value sociology, cultural and visual anthropology, cultural and symbolic studies, material culture, the culture of everyday life, worldviews, survival strategies, and motivation theory, and have shaped generations of professionals. For their remarkable scientific achievements, the Kapitány couple received the title of Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2004, and in 2016, they were awarded the Széchenyi Prize in recognition of their diverse contributions. Now the Moholy-Nagy Award has been added to their list of accolades, which is presented each year to individuals whose outstanding artistic, research, or creative work is grounded in the same values as those of the university and its namesake. 

The award ceremony featured laudation speeches by MOME associate professors Anna Keszeg and Kinga German, with Keszeg highlighting the Kapitánys’ remarkable contributions to academic research and German focusing on their impact on education. Following the laudations, Rector Pál Koós presented the Moholy-Nagy Award, designed by Noémi Ferenczy Award-winning jeweller and MOME lecturer Krisztián Ádám. In their joint lecture, the Kapitánys reflected on the core themes of their work.  

“We have spent our entire lives analysing symbolic manifestations. Our fundamental goal has been to understand and to help others understand the specific characteristics, nature, and workings of a symbolic approach to the world. Since the use of symbols is an exceptionally powerful tool for both understanding the world and influencing others, we believe it is of utmost importance that as many people as possible – ideally everyone – learn to use this tool consciously,” quoted Ágnes Kapitány from their book, Symbolisation: How Do We Act with Symbols?, during her lecture.  

“Never believe that you, as an individual, can do nothing just because you are just a small cog. A single person can stand up even against the entire world, as the butterfly effect means their actions can have an impact as significant as the mightiest forces in existence,” added Gábor Kapitány, continuing the thought with another excerpt from the same book.  

This year’s Moholy-Nagy Award ceremony was preceded by the awarding of doctoral and habilitation titles. Doctoral degrees were awarded to social design researcher Janka Csernák, cultural researcher and aesthetic theorist Balázs Kellner, fashion designer Anna Zsófia Kormos, social design researcher Rita Szerencsés, media artist Villő Turcsány, design theorist Henrietta Fiáth, and animation designer Tamás Ducki, and a habilitation certificate to media artist Miklós Erhardt for his lecture, The Paradoxes of Art Research.  

Musical performances by Balázs Szokolay Dongó, a master of traditional wind instruments, and Jenő Lisztes, a virtuoso cimbalom player, brought a lively and memorable close to the evening.