I am deeply honored that my series Coma Vigil was awarded First Prize in the “Everyday Life – Series” category and received the prestigious André Kertész Grand Prize at the 38th Hungarian Press Photo Awards.
Coma Vigil documents the daily life of Sándor and Márti Balkovics, who have been caring for their daughter Sári at home since 2017. Sári has been in a persistent vegetative state following a tragic accident in 2016. The series captures the emotional and physical challenges faced by families who provide long-term home care to severely disabled or chronically ill loved ones—a reality shared by over 12,000 families in Hungary.
The international jury included Tamás Szlukovényi (photo editor and former Reuters picture editor, jury president), Daniela Mrazkova (Czech photo historian and curator), Ron Haviv (American war photographer and co-founder of VII Photo), João Silva (South African conflict photographer for The New York Times), and Ákos Stiller (Hungarian photojournalist).
The entire Coma Vigil series is available to view here:
https://beakovacs.com/portfolio/coma-vigil/
