First JATE Awards Handed Over by Nobel Laurate Katalin Karikó

The JATE Awards, founded by Katalin Karikó, were presented for the first time at a gala evening held at the University of Szeged on Saturday evening. Literary historian Mihály Ilia, chemistry professor Ágota Tóth, and physician and doctoral student Márton Simon Czikkely received the awards.

Katalin Karikó, a former student of József Attila University (JATE), the predecessor of the University of Szeged, announced on October 12, 2023, that she would donate a replica of her Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the more than USD 500,000 prize money that came with it to her alma mater. Based on this donation, the researcher and the University of Szeged established the JATE Award in memory of the former József Attila University, to strengthen the reputation of JATE and to recognize excellence and scholarship in Szeged.

At the ceremony, Katalin Karikó said that she had always been proud to have studied at JATE. Those who studied here between the 1960s and the 1990s not only had the university in common, but also their fate and the way they lived.

The professor said that when traveling around the world, it gives her great pleasure to meet JATE alumni, as their shared past immediately creates mutual trust. According to her, she has celebrated with JATE alumni in many cities around the world over the past few years. Several of the country's ambassadors and the president of the republic were former students of the university, and László Krasznahorkai, this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, also began his studies at JATE.

The professor emphasized that he would like to use the JATE Award to pay tribute to his former teachers and thank them for their dedicated work.

Rector László Rovó said that the JATE Award combines respect for tradition and innovation in both its name and spirit. Its name refers to the university's past, but it also presents a new aspect in that potential recipients can be nominated by members of the university community. This award is also unique in that it covers the entire university community of Szeged in three categories.

In the student category, the award went to Márton Simon Czikkely, who graduated from the University of Szeged with a degree in medicine. He is currently a doctoral student, researching bacterial genome engineering and antibiotic resistance. He has published ten articles in leading journals and is also involved in important science communication work.

In the teaching category, the first JATE award winner is Ágota Tóth, professor of chemistry and head of the Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of Szeged. She earned her degree in chemistry and then her doctorate in Szeged. After a successful period of research in the United States, she returned to her alma mater. She is a renowned researcher in nonlinear chemical dynamics and has co-authored 117 internationally published articles, which have received more than 2,100 citations. Based on student votes, she has won the Golden Chalk Award for Best Teacher at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Szeged three times.

The first recipient of the JATE Award in the alumni category is literary historian Ilia Mihály. The literary scholar, often referred to as a "one-man institution," has been affiliated with the University of Szeged since 1953, when he began his higher education studies. Among his publications as a literary scholar, his studies on the first generation of the Nyugat magazine, as well as on Gyula Juhász and Endre Ady, stand out. His critiques, which accompanied contemporary literature with sensitivity and empathy, are also important. His work as a teacher and editor makes the oeuvre of the former legendary editor-in-chief of the Tiszatáj magazine unique.