This year was the eleventh occasion of the Tibor Gyurós Awards, set up by IVSZ, and given as an acknowledgement to the top managers of the most outstandingly successful companies in the IT sector. As usual, the jury of the award, bearing the name of the former Chairman of Synergon Plc, Tibor Gyurós, selected the two winners from among the IT-industry nominees that received the largest number of votes. The winner of the 2008 'IT Manager of the Year' category is Julianna Bozsó, Managing Director of VirusBuster Ltd, whilst the winner of the 'Young IT Entrepreneur of the Year' category is the COO of Nav N Go.

The Awards were presented by János Keresztesi, President of IVSZ, Ferenc Baja, Government Commissioner for Government Information Technology, and Norbert Kroó, Chairman of the Jury and Vice President of MTA (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), at the Awards Ceremony held in the Ballroom of the Budapest Marriott Hotel. The nominees were introduced to the most prominent Hungarian representatives of the IT industry through short video films; then Mr. Kroó delivered a short but thoughtful praising speech.

The list of nominees included the top managers of several prominent companies, including the winner of the 'IT Manager of the Year’ category, Julianna Bozsó, Managing Director of VirusBuster Ltd, a company which started operating 11 years ago; Tamás Graur, CEO of EQnet Company Ltd, established in 1999, and Péter Papp, Managing Director of kancellar.hu Ltd, a company present in the information security sector since 2002. With so many illustrious nominees competing for the Tibor Gyurós Awards, it is a significant achievement for Nav N Go, a company operating for only two and a half years, that its COO has been unanimously selected for the 'Young IT Entrepreneur of the Year' Award.

‘It was a tremendous honor to accept this Award in the company of so many people who for me represent such high-level professional credibility, including Gábor Hegedüs, CEO of HP Hungary,’ said András Fazakas. ‘Government Commissioner Ferenc Baja and the Managing Director of Intel Hungary and several other important industry role players also congratulated me after the ceremony. If someone had told me two and a half years ago, when I started at this ‘small’ enterprise, that the top managers of the most illustrious IT companies in Hungary, as well as media representatives, would express their congratulations on Nav N Go’s unique success in the near future, I would have had to smile. I think the Tibor Gyurós Award is another remarkable recognition of the work that we done at Nav N Go.’

The Chief Operating Officer joined Nav N Go, known for its iGO My way 2006 brand product and its Nav N Go iGO 8 3D navigation software, in 2006. He established a corporate structure which meets the demands of the international market and is able to stand its ground in a constantly expanding and renewing industry. András Fazakas played an active part in helping the former small-scale enterprise of ten employees grow into a huge navigation software development company employing over 250 people, with software running on the devices of such leading brands as HP, Sony PSP, Clarion and Asus.

About the Tibor Gyurós Award:
IVSZ first presented its ‘IT Manager of the Year’ and ‘Young IT Entrepreneur of the Year’ awards in 1997, with the purpose of establishing a tradition and giving an annual award to two outstanding IT managers. Each year the award is given to prominent professionals who lead their company with outstanding effectiveness, and whose activity contributes greatly to the development of information technology in Hungary. Following the sudden death of the President of IVSZ in 2001, the Board of the Association decided to rename the Award ‘The Tibor Gyurós Award’, in honor of the late President of IVSZ and the exceptional IT manager. IVSZ, including the special prizes, has given more than 20 awards in the past decade; and a large number of the prize-winning IT professionals have become remarkable role players of the ICT industry both in Hungary and the whole region.

Winners of the Tibor Gyurós Award:

2008:
Ms. Julianna Bozsó–Managing Director of VirusBuster Ltd
Mr. András Fazakas–Chief Operating Officer of Nav N Go Ltd.

2007:
Mr. József Kmetty–Chief Executive Officer of KÜRT Plc.
Mr. Béla Csiszér–Managing Director of Sicontact Ltd.

2006:
Mr. István Lakatos–Chief Executive Officer of Műszertechnika Holding Plc.
Mr. Márton Szőke–Managing Director of Indextools Ltd.

2005:
Mr. Vilmos Vaspál–President of FreeSoft Plc.
Mr. Balázs Vinnai–Managing Director of IND Ltd.

2003:
Mr. Antal Illés–Managing Director of HUMANsoft Ltd.
Mr. József Szigetvári–Publication Director of IDG Hungary Ltd.

2002:
Mr. Péter Pityi–Managing Director of Microsoft Magyarország Ltd.
Dr. László Czinege–Division Director of Hewlett-Packard Magyarország Ltd.

2001:
Dr. Gábor Prószéky–Chief Executive Officer of MorphoLogic Ltd.
Mr. Viktor Scharek–Director of Commerce of Compaq Computer Magyarország Ltd.

2000:
Mr. János Keresztesi–Managing Director of Sun Microsystems Magyarország Ltd.
Mr. Dániel Nemes–Chief Executive Officer of Telnet Magyarország Plc.
Ms. Judit Kenyeres–Project Manager of ICL Hungary Ltd, winner of ’The IT Project Manager of the Year’ category

1999:
Dr. György Beck–Chief Executive Officer of Compaq Computer Magyarország Ltd.
Mr. János Kóka, Chief Executive Officer of ELENDER Plc. andDr. László Vinkovits, Managing Director of debis IT Services UNISOFTWARE Rendszerház Ltd.–winners of a special prize equivalent to 'The IT manager of the Year' award

1998:
Dr. Ákos Reszler–Chief Executive Officer of Recognita Plc.
Dr. Sándor Kürti–Chief Executive Officer of KÜRT Ltd.

1997:
Dr. György Beck–Managing Director of DIGITAL Equipment Ltd.
Dr. Sándor Kürti and Mr. János Kürti, siblings–Managing Directors of KÜRT Ltd.