Oscar nominee Ildikó Enyedi wins Vodafone Equality Award

Mónika Mécs, producer of "On Body and Soul," who accepted the Vodafone Hungary Equality Award on behalf of director Ildikó Enyedi, and Gergő J. Budai, external affairs director at Vodafone Hungary, pictured at the 14th Spokespersonsʼ Ball.

The Equality Award was presented for the first time this year, having been co-created by Vodafone Hungary, the National Association of Spokespersons, and Bézs Rádió. The award is given to a person who, in the view of the founders, has done most to improve the empowerment of women through their communications activities.  

"To us, at Vodafone, it is obvious that we do not discriminate between women and men," explained Gergő J. Budai, external affairs director at Vodafone Hungary, speaking at the awards ceremony. "We only judge our colleagues by their performance and actions. There is no better proof of this than the fact that 50% of our senior management is made up of women, and the ratio of women through the entire company stands at 48%. We are working hard to eliminate inequality in society, and therefore we are especially pleased that, in recognition of her efforts in the empowerment of women, we can today grant the Vodafone Equality Award to the excellent film director Ildikó Enyedi," he added.

The Equality Award was accepted on behalf of Enyedi by Mónika Mécs, producer of "On Body and Soul," who said she and the director considered it a very important initiative.

"We female artists can contribute our part to this cause by pursuing our careers and perhaps setting a good example to women who are lacking in faith in themselves, in their opportunities, or their ability to achieve their goals," she said.  "We believe that even if we cannot offer a ready-made solution, we can certainly show the way forward and prove that it is possible and worthwhile starting out on this journey, as women can also achieve great results," Mécs added.

Enyedi is a holder of the Béla Balázs and Artist of Merit awards, among more than 40 domestic and international honors. "On Body and Soul" has already won the Golden Bear, the main award at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival. The filmʼs cameraman also snapped the top award at the Camerimage International Film Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland.  

Selected by the Film Industry Arbitration Committee of the Hungarian National Film Fund as the Hungarian entry for the 2017 Oscars, "On Body and Soul" is on to the shortlist of five nominees in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards gala, to be held on March 4.

Special importance

In its press release, Vodafone Hungary said the empowerment of women is "of special importance" to the company. It says its Vodafone ReConnect program is a good example, as it aims to reintegrate talented specialists and managers returning from temporary absence from the labor market, e.g. from maternity leave, into the corporate structure. 

Vodafone also runs a joint campaign against domestic violence with Hungarian Interchurch Aid, entitled "How far should this be allowed to go?" The purpose of the campaign "is to allow as many people as possible to recognize the signs of domestic violence, also offering professional help to victims via the counseling site www.meddigmehet.hu," Vodafone said. 

The company is also making what it describes as "significant efforts" to steer as many girls as possible towards STEM careers, offering five-day workshops to young girls where they can find out about the mysteries of coding.  

Vodafone Hungary Zrt., an integrated technology provider with a portfolio covering mobile communication, mobile internet and broadband data services for retail and business users alike, launched local operations on November 30, 1999.