National Network for Children conducted for the seventh consecutive year a ceremony for awarding the ’Golden Apple’ prizes. The awards are recognition and a tribute to the efforts made by different people, organizations and institutions to improve the lives and well-being of children in Bulgaria. They were presented on the eve of Children’s Day at the Sofia City Art Gallery.
The awards are traditionally in seven categories – “Children’s Hero”, “School”, “Hospital”, “Municipality”, “Journalist”, “Charity” and “Contribution to the Network for children”. In the “Children’s Hero” category, nominations are made by the general public on the website of the Golden Apple initiative www.1june.nmd.bg. The selection of the winner is made by the online vote of the broad audience. Nominations in the other categories are made by the 144 member organizations of the Children’s Network across the country who work with and for children and families.
For “Children’s Heroes” were awarded Mariana Geleva and a group of mothers from all over the country, who crochet a hand-made toys, sale them online and donate raised money to support medical treatment of children in need.
The Prize for “School” went to the primary school “Rakovski”, in the village of Golyamo Novo, Targovishte municipality.
The award in the category “Hospital” was awarded to the Specialized Hospital for Active Treatment of Children’s Diseases “Prof. Dr. Ivan Mitev “- Sofia.
The jury decided to give the award for “Municipality” to the Municipality of Ardino.
The award in the category “Journalist” was handed to Eleonora Tahova, journalist and host of the program “Today” at the Bulgarian National Radio – Blagoevgrad Branch.
The prize in the category “Charity” won the company “DHL Express Bulgaria” and its branch in Targovishte.
The award for the long-term contribution to the National Network for Children was awarded to Maria Donkova, co-founder and part of the “Paydeya” Foundation, which has been working for better quality and access to education for 18 years now.
32 organizations and individual candidates have been nominated for the “Golden Apple” Awards this year.
