Hungary marked the 10th Budapest International Circus Festival with its first Hungarian medallists ever: the Richter Troupe won gold with their acrobatic horse act, while high wire artist László Simet and his group were awarded a silver medal at the closing gala on 13 January.

“In every good circus, company members hold each others’ hands firmly in an atmosphere of friendship, tradition and teamwork. The same is true for teams that are successful in life as in the arena” – Minister for Human Resources Zoltán Balog said at the award ceremony, which began with a show by the winning productions.

DownloadThe Festival brought together more than 30 productions from almost 20 countries.

This year’s gold medallists are: the Hungarian Richter Troupe, German elephant acrobats the Casselly family and the Chinese Quingdao pole acrobats. The silver Pierrot award went to Hungary’s László Simet and his group, Romanian pole acrobats Trio Stoian and Brazilian spiderman Super Silva. Bronze went to the Russian bar artist team Stynka, Portuguese clown Cesar Diaz, Ukrainian aerial strap team Duo Maybe and Spanish aerial acrobat couple Yves and Ambra Nicols.

The awards were presented by Minister for Human Resources Balog, President of the National Cultural Fund László Simon, Minister of State for Culture János Halász, Director of the Hungarian Circus and Variety Company Zsigmond Kriza and József Richter, Director of the Budapest Circus.

(Ministry of Human Resources)