On the occasion of the Wallenberg centennial, the Hungarian Wallenberg Commemorative Committee is granting a Wallenberg Centennial Award to number of public figures, who in the course of their careers have done a great deal to clear up the unknown parts of Wallenberg’s life, to internationally publicise his activities in Hungary, or to preserve his memory, thus also contributing to the diffusion of the values represented by Wallenberg as broadly as possible in society.

The winners of the Centennial Wallenberg Award are:

ANNETTE LANTOS is the wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos and the Chairperson of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. She always supported and assisted her husband in his continuous struggle to ensure respect for human rights. Anette worked full-time in her husband's office throughout nearly three decades he spent in the U.S. House of Representatives. She served as the unpaid Executive Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which Congressman Lantos co-founded.

Throughout her life, Annette Lantos consistently stood by those persecuted for religious, political or other reasons. She made great efforts to shed light on the fate of the Swedish human savior Raoul Wallenberg. Together with her husband they continuously kept the case on the agenda in the United States. Annette gave countless interviews on the topic, even spoke directly with President Jimmy Carter. Tom and Annette Lantos proposed that a statue of Wallenberg be erected in the building of the US Congress, that Raoul Wallenberg receive an honorary US citizenship and that the street where the Washington Holocaust Museum is located be renamed “Wallenberg”.  

Annette is the distinguished founder of the International Free Wallenberg Committee, established in 1977 to raise awareness of Raoul Wallenberg's incredible humanitarian mission in Hungary during the Second World War.

Annette and Tom were happily married for 58 years; she has two daughters and eighteen grandchildren.

KATE WACZ is one of the survivors, who lived through the German occupation and the period of the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross Party regime in the Budapest Ghetto, thanks to the visa issued by Wallenberg. Her mother and brother also assisted the efforts of the Swedish diplomats.

Kate Wacz, who has been living in Sweden since the early 1950s, has worked extensively to ensure that the memory of Wallenberg and other human saviors working in Budapest is preserved in Sweden, Hungary and internationally. 

Not sparing time and energy, she has been organizing activities to this end for decades, to which she not only contributes intellectually but also financially with her husband Miklós.

She initiated and cooperated in the publication of numerous publications, films, music and exhibitions in the memory of Raoul Wallenberg, but by presenting her own story; she also endeavours to ensure that the human courage and valour of Wallenberg in this pitiful period of our history is never forgotten.  She has been a member of the Swedish Raoul Wallenberg Association from the beginning and is a regular supporter of the Hungarian Raoul Wallenberg Association as its honorary member.

JAN LUNDVIK worked in the Swedish diplomatic service from 1960 to 2002; and served as an Ambassador in Budapest from 1994 to 1998.  He has always paid increased interest in Hungary. He learnt Hungarian, which he continues to use to this day, and got acquainted with the geography and historical milestones of the country.

As Ambassador, he was a founder of the Swedish-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce that recognized his activities with an award in 2010. During his service in Hungary and later as well, he made an outstanding contribution to preserving the memory of Wallenberg and shedding light on his activities.

In 1994 he helped the creation of a memorial plaque honouring Danielsson, Wallenberg and Per Anger, and also the visit to Budapest by Per Anger, the former Swedish diplomat, decorated human savior. Ambassador Lundvik has carried out essential research work to identify the Hungarian staff members of Wallenberg, as well as the bearers of the Hungarian contact names figuring in his notebook. In 1999-2000 he participated in the Swedish-Russian Raoul Wallenberg Working Group. After his retirement, he has continued to actively foster his Hungarian contacts and follow developments in the remembrance of Wallenberg and other Budapest saviors.