Awards
“The trophy is the greatest reward for a hunter, physical proof you can touch; it’s like a gold medal in other sports. Behind a valuable trophy are all the struggles and tensions, the ordeal involved, the exceptional sacrifices and, of course, the successes that come, too. All of it makes up the whole hunting experience.”
In recognition of his achievement of taking 2 types of markhor in Pakistan in 2005, he twice received the Carlo Caldesi award (4th and 5th), which is one of the world’s most prestigious hunting awards.
In 2007, Hidvegi was awarded the SCl’s most prestigious award, the World Hunting Award Ring, while in 2009 he was the recipient of the Ovis Club’s (first among sheep and goat hunting organizations) prestigious “Triple Slam” award.
He is perhaps proudest of his Ovis Club Super 30 award which requires a hunter take 30 species/subspecies of wild goat and 30 species/subspecies of wild sheep. To date, only 5 hunters have accomplished this feat.
“To my mind nothing compares with the hunting of wild sheep (…), a sport which calls forth the highest efforts of skill as well as of endurance, the whole craft of hunting in the most magnificent and terrible places on God’s earth. I would rather have hanging on my wall the head of an old markhor than that of the best lion I have ever seen, all the more because I know the time has now gone by when I could stand the work necessary to win this prize.” – Sir Alfred Pease
At the 2009 National Hunting Day celebration, Béla Hidvégi received Hungary’s most esteemed hunting award, the National Hunting Order of Hungary.
In 2012, on the occasion of the dedication of the “Games Ibex Play” statue, he was presented with the Award by the Hungarian Chamber of Hunting. This is the first time this Award, recognizing excellence in promoting Hungarian hunting in the fields of culture, education and wildlife protection has ever been given.
In 2013, he added the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic to his other awards.
Béla Hidvégi was also instrumental in establishing the Hungarian Chapter of SCI in 2006. He was president of the Chapter for two years and worked actively to create and promote the organization. He is now its honorary president. The Hungarian Chapter of SCI was named “SCI Chapter of the Year” in 2010.
He also contributes to SAFARI Magazine, an off-shoot of Nimrod Magazine, in which he writes articles and actively participates in the publishing of the magazine. As the result the Chapter received the outstanding Media Award in 2011 from SCI.
He is also currently an honorary director of SCI international.