Programmes
Every year, the Rákóczi Association addresses tens of thousands of people throughout the Carpathian Basin, and even in Hungarian diaspora communities living anywhere in the world, with a colorful series of events. Through these programs, the Association aims to create an opportunity for members of Hungarian communities living far from each other to get to know each other personally, to establish contacts, and to create an up-to-date picture of the situation and relations of these communities in order to cooperate more effectively. The main target group of the Rákóczi Association’s events is the high school age group – primarily the membership of high school organizations. Every year, the Association offers them various opportunities according to the season and the current period of the school year, and paying attention to the appropriate selection of locations, so that students from all regions are invited to an event. You can learn more about our programs and events by selecting from the menu.
Commemorative Celebrations
The Rákóczi Association organizes several celebrations and commemorations every year, related to individuals and days that are significant to its cause and community. The aim of these celebrations is to commemorate the significant events and personalities of the Hungarian nation and history, and to make them known to the public.
Memorial Day for the Victims of Communism
The National Martyrs’ Memorial was restored in the fall of 2019 in memory of those who became martyrs and victims for confessing their Hungarianness. Since 2020, the Rákóczi Association has been organizing its commemoration here on the Victims of Communism Memorial Day, with the participation of young people.
Memorial Day of János Esterházy
Since 1991, the Rákóczi Association has organized a commemoration in March every year in honor of the martyred politician Count János Esterházy from the Highlands. The commemoration ceremony begins in downtown Budapest, on Szép Street, where the gathered mourners lay a wreath at the Esterházy János Memorial Plaque. Numerous organizations from the Highlands and Hungary place flowers of remembrance every year. After the wreath-laying, the mourners march to a nearby location, where representatives of the Esterházy János Committee and invited guests of honor give a celebratory greeting. The Esterházy János Memorial Medal is presented as part of the commemoration ceremony. The Esterházy János Memorial Medal is awarded every year to individuals, organizations, and institutions that have done a lot for the rehabilitation of the martyred politician Count János Esterházy from the Highlands, or for the popularization of his intellectual heritage, or have achieved outstanding results with their work in the interest of the Hungarians from the Highlands.
The Esterházy Memorial Medals have been awarded to the following individuals/institutions so far:
- 1991: Countess Alice Esterházy-Malfatti, Kristóf Hites OSB
- 1992: Historian Kálmán Janics, former imprisoned leaders of CSEMADOK: Gyula Lipcsei, Zoltán Krausz, Gyula Mészáros and László Hajdú
- 1993: Writer Tibor Ébert, Komáromi Jókai Theatre Company
- 1994: Sculptor János Nagy, literary editor Judit Mayer
- 1995: Miklós Duray and his former colleagues (Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Hungarian Minority in Czechoslovakia)
- 1996: János Esterházy Public Culture Club of Bratislava (Mrs. Schenier Wurster Ilona), historian Gyula Popély, writer László Tóth
- 1997: 1. no. Esterházy János Scout Group 1998: Elemér Stelczer, Imre Molnár historian
- 1999: Éva Henrikné Pröhle Samarjay, Zoltán Balassa historian
- 2000: József Halzl, Association of Hungarians in Bohemia and Moravia (Ferenc Mónus)
- 2001: Hungarian Coalition Party (Béla Bugár), Slovak Christian Democrat politician Frantisek Miklosko, Father Károly Lénárt
- 2002: Ernő Lazarovics
- 2003: Géza Erdélyi ref. Bishop, Slovak Hungarian Teachers’ Association, Hungarian in the Homeland Association (10-year City and Countryside Target Fund Network)
- 2004: János Frideczky, founder of the Bratislava Casino, János Selye Dormitory in Komárom
- 2005: Catholic priest László Burián, József Hetényi, fellow prisoner of Esterházy
- 2006: Thália Theatre in Košice, Búcs village
- 2007: Hungarian-language Entrepreneurial Private Vocational High School, Alsóbodok, and the Czech village of Mírov
- 2008: Pázmáneum Civic Association, Remény c. magazine
- 2009: János Cservenka and the Private Vocational Institute and Private Commercial Academy of Hidaskürt he founded, and the Vass Lajos Choir of Hungarian Teachers
- 2010: CSEMADOK and Franciscan Father Cirill Kovalcsik
- 2011: Felvidéki Student Network
- 2012: Erzsébet Dolník, Selye jános Gymnasium in Komárno
- 2013: Olivér Boldoghy, Hungarian Gallery in Bratislava
- 2014: FELVIDEK.ma – Erzsébet Pogány, Esterházy János Statue Commission – Zoltán Pékó
- 2015: Jan Ciechanowski, State Secretary of the Government Office of Veterans and Persecuted People in Poland, Reviczky Association – Léva
- 2016: Béla László, University Professor, Szakkay József Vocational School in Košice
- 2017: Élő Zoboralja Polgári Association, actor Imre Boráros
- 2018: Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Kraków, Paulisz Boldizsár, creator of the Esterházy memorial in Alsóbodok
- 2019: Zoltán Ďurčo, Hungarian episcopal vicar of the Diocese of Nitra and Dagmar Babčanová, former Slovak ambassador to the Vatican
- 2020: László Bíró, Roman Catholic bishop and Lízna František, Czech Jesuit monk
- 2022: Cardinal Péter Erdő, Primate, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Árpád Martényi, Chairman of the János Esterházy Memorial Committee
- 2023: Antal Majnek, retired Roman Catholic bishop of Munkács
Rákóczi Memorial Day
The Association has been presenting the cult of its namesake as a role model to the Hungarian youth of the Carpathian Basin since 1989. On the birthday of the great prince, March 27th of each year, the Association organizes a commemoration in Budapest, at the Rákóczi statue in Kossuth Square.
March 15th.
Since 1994, the Association has been providing travel expenses and organizational assistance of up to 300,000 HUF to all Hungarian secondary schools in the Carpathian Basin that are ready to organize a trip to neighboring countries for their student groups on the occasion of our national holiday on March 15. The purpose of the groups’ visits is for the students to participate in the celebrations organized by the local Hungarian community. This provides the students with an opportunity to get to know the life and culture of Hungarians across the border, and is also a good opportunity to establish contact with Hungarian schools there.
Memorial Day of Hungarians Deported from highlands
On December 4, 2012, the Hungarian Parliament unanimously adopted the resolution that April 12 will henceforth be the Day of Remembrance for Hungarians Deported from the Uplands. Since 2013, the Rákóczi Association has been announcing a literary and historical competition for high school and university students in the Carpathian Basin every year on the occasion of the Day, and has also organized a central commemoration of the more than one hundred thousand Hungarians expelled from the Czechoslovakian Republic and resettled in Hungary as a result of the Beneš Decrees.
National Unity Day
On the National Unity Day on June 4, the Rákóczi Association organizes a commemoration in addition to its Student Travel Program, in regular cooperation with the organizers of the central celebrations. Hundreds of students participate in the 2-3-day programs, which include travel and excursions, every year.
October 23rd. - Gloria Victis
Since 1992, the Rákóczi Association has been organizing the 1956 commemoration ceremony called Gloria Victis at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics every year between October 21-23, in conjunction with a Carpathian Basin youth meeting and a high school history competition. The Gloria Victis series of events commemorates the Hungarian youth who launched the 1956 revolution. As part of the series of events, 200 high school students from the Carpathian Basin compete in a history competition organized at the Budapest University of Technology, while other invited young people participate in various cultural and historical programs. The highlight of the event is the commemoration ceremony at the University of Technology on October 22 and the torchlight procession in Bem Square, which, in addition to the invited students, is also attended by celebrating citizens from Budapest, the countryside and abroad. The very popular Student Travel Program is announced for the third time every year on the occasion of the national holiday.
József Halzl Memorial Day - November 13th.
The Rákóczi Association commemorates its perpetual, honorary president on the day of his death, November 13. The establishment of the Rákóczi Association, its goals, activities and structures are linked to József Halzl. He led the Rákóczi Association between 1990 and 2018. His activities were defined by the promotion of Hungarian school choice abroad. On the memorial day, we are organizing a conference related to Hungarian education and Hungarian school choice in the Carpathian Basin in order to continue his activities and serve the Hungarian communities of the Carpathian Basin. The Association strives to maintain the memory of József Halzl and to set an example for young Hungarians of all that he did for the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin.
High School Events
Every year, the Rákóczi Association addresses tens of thousands of people throughout the Carpathian Basin and, more recently, in diaspora communities around the world with a colorful series of events. Through these programs, the Association aims to create opportunities for members of Hungarian communities living far from each other to get to know each other personally, to establish contacts, and to create an up-to-date picture of the situation and relations of these communities in order to cooperate more effectively. The main target group of the Rákóczi Association’s events is high school students – primarily members of high school organizations. Every year, the Association offers them various opportunities, depending on the season and the current period of the school year, and paying attention to the appropriate selection of locations, so that students from all regions are invited to an event.
“Gloria Victis” Youth Meeting and History Contest
The Gloria Victis event series is the largest event of the Rákóczi Association, which consists of two main elements. On the one hand, a youth meeting, and on the other hand, a historical competition. We invite and welcome members of our youth organizations from all over the Carpathian Basin to the youth meeting, so that they can remember the heroes of the 1956 revolution and freedom struggle together. The Historical Competition is a three-round team competition, to which every Hungarian-language secondary school in the Carpathian Basin can enter a team/teams. A team consists of three students and a preparatory teacher. The task sheet for the first round can be downloaded from the Rákóczi Association website after the competition is announced. The completed task sheet must be sent by post to the Association’s mailing address by the deadline indicated in the announcement. The sixty best teams from the first round will be invited to the semi-finals, which are part of the Gloria Victis series of events taking place between October 21 and 23. The semi-finals are a written round, which will take place on October 22 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The ten best teams from the second round will compete in an oral final on October 23. The teams that reach the semi-finals and final will receive valuable book prizes, and the five best teams in the competition will win a multi-day trip. The destinations of these prize trips have been Croatia, Poland and Transylvania in recent years.
Cultura Nostra History Contest
A joint competition of the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and the Rákóczi Association, which is a three-round team competition. Hungarian high school students from the Carpathian Basin can apply for the competition. A team consists of three students and a preparatory teacher. Teams can apply for the competition on the website culturanostra.bences.hu. The worksheet for the first round of the competition can also be downloaded from this website, which must be filled in again on the day of download. The second round is regional, this worksheet is filled out by the teams in different cities of the Carpathian Basin. The final of the competition is an oral one, which takes place in the framework of a three-day event at the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma. The teams that reach the final will receive a valuable book prize, and the first three teams can participate in a summer prize trip.
Weekend trips
Events that take place several times a year, from Friday to Sunday, for which five students and one teacher from the invited youth organizations can apply. Such events include the Upper Hungary Walk held in spring and autumn each year, the Southern Hungary Trip held in spring, the Partium Trip in autumn, and the Transcarpathian Trip also held in spring and autumn. The goal of these programs is always to get to know the historical and cultural treasures of a Hungarian-populated region across the border, and to wander around the given area.
High School Leadership Forums
As the name of the event suggests, we are expecting teachers and student leaders of secondary school organizations to attend these gatherings. Usually, two students and one teacher from the invited organizations can apply for the program. This event is organized several times a year as a long weekend in Budapest, in various rural locations, and in Hungarian-populated areas across the border. The program is traditionally organized around the motto “Values and Youth”, so it usually includes lectures on culture and history, theater visits, excursions, city tours, museum visits, and playful leadership training. The program aims to train leaders of youth organizations, build their relationships, and spend time together in a good atmosphere and meaningfully.
Carpathian Basin High School Camp
As the name of the event suggests, we are expecting teachers and student leaders of secondary school organizations to these gatherings. Usually, two students and one teacher can apply for the program from the invited organizations. It is one of the largest and most popular events of the Rákóczi Association. The camp is held twice a year, with a total of about a thousand students coming to Sátoraljaújhely from all corners of the Carpathian Basin in the first week of July and August, to spend an extremely meaningful, active and eventful week with their peers. Five students and one teacher from each of our organizations can apply for the camp. The program of the event consists of excursions, lectures related to history, literature, culture, sports programs, team competitions, recitation and runic writing competitions, dance halls, and beach holidays. This event is organized several times a year as part of a long weekend in Budapest, in various rural locations, and in Hungarian-populated areas across the border. The program is traditionally organized around the motto “Values and Youth”, so it usually includes lectures on culture and history, theater visits, excursions, city tours, museum visits, and playful leadership training. The program aims to train leaders of youth organizations, build their relationships, and spend time together in a good atmosphere and meaningfully.
Event programs
Student Travel Program
The Rákóczi Association announces its Student Travel Program three times a year – March 15, June 4, and October 23 – in connection with our national holidays and commemorations. The application can be submitted by any traveling group from a secondary school that teaches in Hungarian (also). The application is for a maximum of HUF 300,000 in travel cost support, disbursed through post-financing, in the band system. The condition for a positive assessment of the applications is that the group crosses a country border and commemorates the current holiday together with the membership and students of a Hungarian partner organization or partner school (an institution that offers Hungarian-language education). During the assessment, the awarded budget amount is determined according to the number of members of the traveling group and the length of the journey.
For more than three decades now, the Rákóczi Association has been contributing to the multifaceted support of the Hungarian community in the Carpathian Basin and to the strengthening of cross-border Hungarian-Hungarian relations, including by organizing numerous summer camps, meetings, conferences, and study tours every year with the participation of students from across the border and in Hungary.
Student Travel Program - March 15.
Since 1994, the Association has been providing financial contributions and organizational assistance to Hungarian secondary schools in the Carpathian Basin, which are ready to send a group of their students to neighboring countries on our national holiday on March 15 to participate in celebrations organized by the local Hungarian community.
Student Travel Program - June 4th.
The Association provides financial contributions and organizational assistance to any secondary school in the Carpathian Basin that is ready to send a group of their students to a school in another Carpathian Basin country on the occasion of the National Unity Day on June 4, to commemorate together and organize a joint program.
Student Travel Program - October 23.
The Association provides financial contributions and organizational assistance to any secondary school in the Carpathian Basin that is ready to send a group of their students to a school in another Carpathian Basin country in connection with our national holiday on October 23, to commemorate together and organize a joint program in the spirit of the 1956 revolution.
This provides students with an opportunity to learn about the life and culture of Hungarian communities living in different countries of the Carpathian Basin, and is also a good opportunity to establish contact with Hungarian schools there.
The application can be submitted on our KARON (Contact System ONline) interface, the successful settlement must be submitted after the trip. The settlement must include the following:
- Original invoice
- Original travel document
- Photo report (Approx. 2 A4 pages of running text + 25 photos)
- Attendance sheet
When the tenders are announced, we will send the tender invitation to all Hungarian-language secondary schools in the Carpathian Basin registered in our system.
Quizzes
Every year, the Rákóczi Association announces several competitions, many of which have decades of tradition, for Hungarian high schools in the Carpathian Basin on historical, literary and cultural topics.
Gloria Victis History Quiz
The Gloria Victis event series is the largest event of the Rákóczi Association, which includes a high school history competition. We invite and welcome members of our high school organizations from all over the Carpathian Basin to the Gloria Victis youth meeting to commemorate the heroes of the 1956 revolution and freedom struggle together. The history competition is a three-round team competition, to which every Hungarian-language high school in the Carpathian Basin can enter a team/teams. A team consists of three students and a preparatory teacher. The task sheet for the first round can be downloaded from the Rákóczi Association website after the announcement of the competition. The sixty best teams from the first round will be invited to the semi-finals, which are part of the Gloria Victis event series, which will take place between October 21-23. The semi-finals are a written round, which will take place on October 22 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The ten best teams from the second round will compete in the oral final on October 23. The teams that advance to the semi-finals and finals will receive valuable book prizes, and the top three teams in the competition will win a multi-day trip.
Cultura Nostra Contest
A high school team competition consisting of three rounds, jointly organized by the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and the Rákóczi Association. A team consists of three students and a preparatory teacher, and Hungarian high school students from the Carpathian Basin can apply for the competition. The task sheet for the first round of the competition can also be downloaded from this website, which must be filled in again on the day of download. The second round is regional, this task sheet is filled out by the teams in different cities of the Carpathian Basin. The final of the competition is an oral one, which takes place as part of a three-day event at the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma. The teams that reach the final will receive a valuable book prize, and the first three teams can take part in a prize trip. Since the beginning of the covid epidemic, we have announced an individual essay competition on a predetermined topic instead of the 2020 and 2021 competitions.
Lingua Materna Quiz
The Rákóczi Association organized its Lingua Materna competition for high school students in the Carpathian Basin for the first time in 2021. The competition is announced on a mother tongue-literary theme, similar to the Cultura Nostra and Gloria Victis competitions. Teams of three can enter by submitting a creative task. Based on the submitted papers, the best 20 teams will be invited to the second round, which the Rákóczi Association will organize at a three-day youth meeting in Sátoraljaújhely. The teams that make it to the second round will compare their knowledge in a written round, and based on the results, the ten most successful teams will advance to the oral final. The winners will receive a book prize and can participate in a trip.
Transcarpathian Travel Program
The Rákóczi Association – in cooperation with the Government Commissioner for Transcarpathia of the Prime Minister’s Office – has been announcing its Transcarpathia Travel Program since 2016 with the aim of strengthening tourism in the Transcarpathian region and expanding Hungarian-Hungarian human relations. Within the framework of the program, it aims to contribute to the travel of groups of Hungarian pensioners’ associations, clubs, family organizations, teaching staff and church communities to Transcarpathia.
Eligible to submit an application:
- retirement associations, clubs
- groups of family organizations
- classrooms
- groups of church communities (e.g. parish communities, congregations)
Diaspora Program
By clicking the button below, you can immediately navigate to the application interface.
Diaspora Program 2025 – Call for Applications
- Presenting the traditions and built heritage that define Hungarian history and culture in the Carpathian Basin through experiential programs.
- To promote the development of relationships between Hungarian youth living in the diaspora and with Hungarian youth living in the Carpathian Basin, contributing to the strengthening of their Hungarian identity.
- To develop native language skills with the involvement of professionals.
- Strengthening the connection of Hungarians living in the diaspora with the motherland by creating a new type of network of contacts, as well as activating and expanding cooperation between cross-border, dispersed and diaspora areas at the all-Hungarian level.
- Increasing the efficiency of quality knowledge transfer in the diaspora aimed at national bonding. Furthermore, gaining extensive experience in the domestic environment and expanding the intellectual, cultural and methodological knowledge serving this.
- Professional support and inspiration for the connection of people living in the diaspora to Hungarian organizations and active community participation abroad.
- Professional training of teachers active in the diaspora and strengthening their connections.
1.2. Program content:
The Diaspora Program includes 11 different program periods between May and December 2025. Applicants can choose thematic summer camps and study trips from among these. The duration of each program is 7-10 days. Teachers active in the diaspora, if they do not come to the program as an accompanying person, can register for the summer All-Hungarian Teachers’ Camp.
2.1. The planned program periods:
| Program | Date | Recommended age group | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pentecost | 2-9 June 2025. | 14-25 years |
| 2. | All-Hungarian Secondary School Camp | 20-27 June 2025. | 14-19 years |
| 3. | All-Hungarian Mother Tongue Camp | 4-11 July 2025. | 10-14 years |
| 4. | All-Hungarian Teacher Camp | 11-17 July 2025. | for teachers |
| 5. | All-Hungarian Mother Tongue Camp | 18-25 July 2025. | 10-14 years |
| 6. | All-Hungarian Secondary School Camp | 25 July – 1 August 2025. | 14-19 years |
| 7. | All-Hungarian Mother Tongue Camp | 1-8 August 2025. | 10-14 years |
| 8. | All-Hungarian Secondary School Camp | August 8-15. 2025. | 14-19 years |
| 9. | All-Hungarian University Camp | August 15-21. 2025. | 18-25 years |
| 10. | All-Hungarian Secondary School Camp | August 22-29. 2025. | 14-19 years |
| 11. | Advent | December 8-16. 2025. | 10-25 years |
- Getting to know Budapest, sights, landmarks, museums
- Budapest adventure programs
- getting to know each other, community building
- native language programs, language foundation
- excursions
- experience programs (e.g. boric wine tasting, hiking, historical walk, dragon boating)
- dance lessons, dance house
- Hungarian youth living in the diaspora
- North America: 150,000 HUF
- Western Europe, Israel: 25,000 HUF
- South America: 280,000 HUF
- Australia and New Zealand: 280,000 HUF
- South Africa: 200,000 HUF