Endre Szirmai, a professor of Medical Sciences, a supporting member of the International Association of Hungarian Studies, founded this prize in 1987 to remunerate the outstanding scientific results achieved in the field of Hungarian Studies. The Prize may be awarded to any researcher from any country, for publishing formerly unknown or latent sources of Hungarian culture or history, or producing of a scientific work within the field of Hungarian Studies, published in either English, French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish. Here, the field of Hungarian Studies is to be understood in its broadest sense.

The prize was first awarded in 1988.