Three organisations left the ceremony with the awards, especially made by Prof. Georgi Capkunov. All organisations looked at themselves through the eyes of people who nominated their projects for Project of the Year.
The ceremony was opened by Iren Levi who presented the competition, the nominated projects, the Jury and the criteria. Maria Petkova, director of Tulip Foundation, spoke about the idea of the competition and the ceremony that brought together the professionals from the civil sector and the prominent professionals from business, media, culture, arts and diplomats.
Ronald van der Giessen, director of Oranje Fonds, The Netherlands was a sspecial guest. A long term partnership connects the two foundations. He spoke about that: “I can say I am a friend of Tulip Foundation. I was present at the first ceremony 11 years ago and I am very happy to be here now 11 years later again. The Oranje Foundation in the Netherlands and the Tulip Foundation in Bulgaria are linked by one very simple principle. We both believe in the power of civil initiative. Whether it is in a small rural community or in a big city – initiative has to be taken by civilians to take care for their neighborhoods or their villages. We believe in the power of volunteers – people who want to do something actively for the society!”
By tradition the members of the Jury announced the awards. Violina Marinova, Chair of the Board and CEO of DSK Bank – the bank of the Year 2015 and Manol Peikov, publisher Janet 45, presented a project “Breast cancer is curable!” of Centre for protection of rights in health system. “For five years now this organisation provides opportunities in small settlements to have screening tests for breast cancer. The project tells women that it is a curable disease. This is project aimed at life!” said Violina Marinova.
Manol Peikov shared that „all the nominated projects this year were great. We didn’t divide them on small and big. There were fantastic small projects that have influence and change the picture in their communities meeting the mission of Tulip Foundation - to support those who work for flourishing communities. As members of the jury we tried to respect two main things – which projects bring biggest change and are cost-effective. The colleagues deserve to be congratulated!”
Dr. Katzarov thanked on behalf of the entire team of the organisation and all people involved in the testing. „We want to teach women that they can care for themselves as breast cancer is curable. Many people do need support in screening test and they use the provided opportunity.”
The award for the next project “Children’s house” of “For our children” Foundation was announced by Sevda Shishmanova, Programme Director of the Bulgarian National Television, and Miroslav Borshosh, Executive director of the National Palace of Culture. “This project was for me very emotional and while reading it I had the feeling of child’s laughter. The small story of every child from this house will be happy as it starts with a family and will continue with a family.” shared Sevda Shishmanova.
Miroslav Borshosh started with the recent strange debate “about the concept of having NGO. The better developed they are, the better the society is. So I congratulate Tulip Foundation for bringing these organisations and showing them. I am deeply convinced that the best place on earth for raising children is the family. That’s what one of the projects supports and we are glad to award them!"
Anelia Spasova expressed gratitude on behalf of the team and told about the future development of the Children’s house.
“Every year for me it is a joy to read through the projects. And I always end up with having a big smile on my face. It worms my heart. I think the NGOs are so important in a society. NGOs have very important role also in putting points on the agenda. And we all know that when you bring persons together it is not always easy to get along well. And this can also be the case for parents and a child – although they all wanted it to work well they have each own story and sometimes it’s really not easy. And then it’s very important that you don’t stand alone, that there are people out there to help you. Congratulations to BAOO!” With these words HE Anick Van Calster, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium announced the next award.
Nikola Dobrev, Chair of the Board of Directors of KCM 2000 Group, who is a member of the Jury for a third year, started visibly moved: “This project really touches on the wound. Because we want and the people involved in project want the same – to change the values in our society in relation to adoptive parents and adopted persons. This project is very important and I have to tell you that I don’t see often such projects that actually start steps towards changing values and attitudes. I congratulate the team, but I also think that the work should be continued because there are plenty of children who are waiting for father’s and mother’s smile and many are the people who want someone to call them Mom and Dad. Congratulations for the team!"
When accepting the award Gergana Bogdanova said: “There are almost 2 million people in Bulgaria concerned with the issue of adoption. For 65 years there is a secret on adoptions in Bulgaria. During these times you only hear about adoption where there is a problem. Today we are here with people who have adopted and who are adopted and they proudly state that to adopt a child is happiness; to be adopted is a gift. I thank you for this recognition!"
The best projects are selected on the achieved results, sustainability of the project activities, financial efficiency, participation of the target groups and the local communities, innovative services and the possibilities for implementing the project in other areas of the country.
Forty two projects from around the country were nominated for Project of the Year 2015 competition. Fourteen nominated projects are implemented in cities, seven are realised in a number of settlements, six projects are taking place in Sofia and another six – in various towns and villages. Five projects are international and three others are run on a national scale. One of the projects is implemented in cooperation with 23 organisations in tens of settlements. The projects are nominated by civil originations and partners, donor organisations, the project team of the implementing organisations, volunteers, schools, kindergartens and community clubs, companies and citizens who have participated in activities.
Tulip Foundation launched the competition for eleventh time in the end of the last year as an answer to the numerous good projects realised in Bulgaria each year. Each of these projects is been made possible by the hard work of the people who invested a lot of their time and dedication for the success of the projects. Civil organisations that are implementing projects aimed at improving the living conditions, opportunities and quality of life of groups or communities in disadvantaged position have been invited to participate in the competition. Projects implemented in towns, cities and villages are welcome regardless of the project budget, source of funding, scale of operation, type of activity or beneficiaries.
Please, find the full list of nominated projects. More information about the awarded projects is available here.
The Project of the Year 2015 ceremony is organised with the media partnership of Bulgarian National Television, Capital weekly, Capital Daily and the Informational Portal of NGOs in Bulgaria and with the support of the National Palace of Culture.
The awards in the media:
BNT news, 29 March 2016, Central emission, after 18,42 min.
BNT, Small stories, 2 April 2016, after 26,40 min.
