Judit Csurgay (1956) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning television reporter, writer, journalist, and teacher. She completed her secondary education in Russian and German. In addition to obtaining her journalism degree, she graduated with honors from the Faculty of Humanities at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. As one of the winners of Hungarian Television's "Reporter Wanted!" competition, she began her quarter-century television career as an editor, reporter, and presenter, the youngest ever to do so. She has tried her hand at every genre, program type, and time slot.

Her programs were broadcast by television companies in nine countries, and she travelled the world.

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Selected television programs

Series:

 

Mindenki iskolája (Everyone's School), TV-Híradó (TV News), A HÉT (THE WEEK), Esti Egyenleg (Evening Balance), Diagnózis (Diagnosis), Turizmus (Tourism), Önök kérték! (You Asked For It!), Staféta (Relay), Életet az éveknek! (Life for Years!), Nyitott boríték (Open Envelope), Kalendárium (Calendar), Anyák (Mothers), Új Reflektor Magazin (New Reflektor Magazine), 100 perc (100 Minutes), Gondolkodó (Thinker).

 

Reportage films:

 

„az értelemig és tovább, a tehetségek védelmében” ("to the limit and beyond, in defense of talent"), Bűvös körben (Magic Circle), Kincsleletek (Treasure Troves), Az első villamos (The First Tram), Az Ararát lábánál (At the Foot of Ararat), Sivatagi oázis (Desert Oasis), A hevesi modell (The Heves Model), Kié a nyugdíjasház? (Who Owns the Retirement Home?)

 

Documentary films:

 

Élet az ország közepén, Panaszok… (Life in the Middle of the Country, Complaints...), Határtalan szerelem (Boundless Love; Finnish-Hungarian co-production), „Emberek élnek fenn távoli Északon is” ("People Live in the Far North Too"; Finnish-Hungarian co-production), „Munkaviszonya megszűnt” ("Employment Terminated"), Eltűntnek nyilvánítva (Declared Missing).

 

Others:

 

Idősek Fesztiválja (Senior Citizens' Festival), Szilveszter! (New Year's Eve!), Nézzük együtt! Ha lúd, legyen sovány! (Let's watch it together! If it's goose, let it be lean!)

She is proud to have edited and directed the music video for "Magyarország" ("Hungary").

 

For many years, she also worked as a correspondent and reporter for Hungarian Radio's Krónika (Hungarian Radio's Chronicle), Napközben (During the day), and Táskarádió (Portable radio) programs, and regularly published articles in numerous newspapers, daily papers, and magazines.

(Rádió és Televízió Szemle (Radio and Television Journal), Rádió és Televízió Újság (Radio and Television Newspaper), Magyarország (Hungary), Esti Hírlap (Evening Newspaper), Népszava (People's Voice), Hang-Szín (Sound and Color), Mai Nap (Today), Kiáltás (Shout), Családi Lap (Family Magazine), Nők Lapja (Women's Magazine), etc.)

 

In detail: Biographical Who's Who Lexicon (Encyclopedia Publishing House 2002),
Who's Who in Hungary (Hübners Who's Who 2011, Switzerland)

 

Her published works in Hungarian to date include:

 

-Ne add fel, soha! (Never give up!; Report collection. Semic Interprint Kiadó, 1995.)

-A first lady (The first lady; Novel. Novum Pro Kiadó, 2011.) Her first novel was presented at several international forums in Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Germany, from the Frankfurt Book Fair to the Budapest International Book Festival.

-Életgyümölcsök (Fruits of Life ) – Novum Pro Antológia (2011.)

-Novum Scripture – Nemzetközi Antológia (Novum Pro Kiadó, 2012.)

-Párizs könnyei (The tears of Paris; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2020.)

-Hozzátok szólok! (I'm talking to you!; Poems. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2020.)

-Ne kérdezd! (Don't ask!; Poems. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2020.)

-Sasok karmai között, a hatalom vonzásában (In the clutches of eagles, drawn to power; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Micsoda év volt ez! (What a year it has been!; Poems. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Jagd a fedélzeten! (Jagd on board!; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Szervusztok, gyerekek! (Hello, kids!; Educational kaleidoscope, Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Ki a világ leggazdagabb embere? (Who is the richest person in the world?; Fairy tales. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Fohász (Prayer; Poems. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)    

-A smaragd szelence titka (The secret of the emerald box; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Zuhanás (Fall; Short stories. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-„La illah il Allah” (Short stories. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Páratlan pártalan! (Unmatched and impartial!; Short stories. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Csodabogarak (Wonder bugs; Short stories. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Megszállottak (Obsessed; Short stories. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Őrült világ! (What a crazy world!; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2021.)

-Időkapszula (Time; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2022.)

-Vérrel és könnyel (With blood and tears; Novel. Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, E-book, 2022.)

 

Awards

 

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, she is most proud of the WTO-OIH Grand Prize, the SZOT Special Prize, and the Civil Roundtable Prize. The founders awarded the latter to her first, for her investigative reports.

 

Special areas of interest

 

Political science, World War II history, literature, arts, biology, astronomy, astrophysics, military fighter aircraft, intelligence, and futurology.

 

Hobbies

 

Dogs, Formula 1, soccer, foreign languages, gastronomy, gardening.

 

Sports

 

Chess, swimming, horse riding, tennis, walking.

 

Personal life

 

Husband: dr. Ferenc Vissi, economist, president of the National Material and Price Office, then the Economic Competition Office (1989–2005)
Child: Krisztián Vissi (1990), biologist and economist with two degrees.
A lover of nature, novel writing, and the news, she has lived alone in Budaliget with her two English hunting dogs since 2005, and is working hard to transform her garden into an English park around her Verona statue.
The most valuable things on the blue planet for her are time, honor, peace, freedom, loyalty, family, children, and truth.

 

Her role models include: Italian reporter Oriana Fallaci, as well as the greatest theoretical physicist of the 20th century, Albert Einstein. Alongside Shakespeare and Hungarian poet Endre Ady, she also admires Italian actress, photojournalist, and sculptor Gina Lollobrigida. She bows her head in deep respect to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II. In her view, a person of such greatness might be born only once every thousand years.

 

She has a thousand ties to Budaliget, but as a lover of Paris, she longs again and again for London, Rome, and Washington. She is passionate about Formula 1, Sir Lewis Hamilton's unprecedented talent, and soccer.

 

She considers every peace-loving, well-intentioned, honest person who loves children and animals to be her friend.
She cannot imagine her life without music and birdsong, just as she cannot imagine it without the Ural owl she rescued and the glowing stones that adorn her garden.

She believes unwaveringly in the power of goodness and love. She has always raised her son and the dogs she rescued from the shelter in this way. She is grateful to her parents and former teachers for the guidance they gave her and for the compass that always shows her the way to goodness.