Tenth Anniversary National Historical Competition 2017
For the tenth time “Values” foundation presented the awards to the winners of the 2017 National History Competition, which has been regularly organized since 1998 by Mrs. Antonina Stoyanova’s organization. The total number of participants in all competitions up to present have been more than 1600.
The Bulgarian History Competition is a part of the Eustory network, comprising 26 national history competitions from different European states and was represented at the ceremony by Mr. Migel Baros, member of the Board of Eustory. The ceremony took place in the Ballroom of the former Royal Palace – today known as the National Gallery.
President Mr. Peter Stoyanov (1997-2002) handed out the awards to the first three winners, which in addition to the diplomas, received financial rewards, which has been traditional for all Bulgarian competitions until now. Additionally, the winners would get the opportunity to attend the seminars organized by the Eustory network, which are conducted in various European states.
This year there were 36 participants with 30 research papers who worked on this year’s topic “Family stories from the time of the communist regime”. They researched how the destiny of family members has been impacted by the totalitarian regime in the framework of the criteria set by the competition. .
The chairman of the jury Dr. Liubomir Ognianov, presented the first award to Daniel Vlahov from “Dobri Chintulov” school in Sliven, for his research paper on the topic “The fate of the descendants of the Sliven textile industrialists after the nationalization”, with Dr. Momchil Metodiev as his supervisor.
Two research papers won the second place - “One life”, author Melis Mehmed with supervisor Julia Chortleneva from “Hristo Smirnenski” school in Chernoochene village, district Kardzhali and “They leave silently” by Elisaveta Petrova from Professional school of tourism “Dr Vasil Beron” - Veliko Tarnovo, with Slavka Prodanova as a supervisor.
For the third place the jury acknowledged the merits of three research papers. Decho Pavlov from 91 “Prof. Konstantin Galabov” with supervisor Krasimir Uzunov who follows his own family story with research paper on topic “From the officers' elite and battles for the Fatherland to the unknown tomb – the lost honor of a Bulgarian family”.
The second third place won the work “On the pavement of communism in the town of Kardzhali” by authors Milica Gecheva and Momchil Trayanov from “Otec Paisii” school with supervisor Kiril Gogov.
“Let’s hear the voice of history. Research in Merdania village” brought the third winner for the third place to Vladislav Borisov from Professional high school on tourism “Dr Vasil Beron” - Veliko Tarnovo with supervisor Bistra Stefanova.
The manager of the project from “Values” foundation Mrs. Petya Georgieva, in her speech noted “The date of the presentation of the awards of this year’s competition is not chosen by accident. Symbolically, the date itself is related to the topic “Family stories from the time of the communist regime” as it is the closest possible date to 14th December, when in 1989 the first anticommunist demonstrations were held in Sofia, Bulgaria and when the then communist parliament was sieged by the democratic forces, which set the beginning of the end of the communist regime.”
President Peter Stoyanov (1997-2002), who handed out the diplomas to the winners of the first three places, in his speech welcomed the participants, their teachers and supervisors and stated: “This year the topic is extremely relevant and close to my heart - “Family stories from the time of the communist regime.” Whilst researching this topic, for sure you have felt the post-communist nostalgia. During the time of communism, the people of my generation were young and it is only natural that at present being mature some of my contemporaries tend to look at their youth with romanticism. That is one of the reasons that some people of my generation still look back at the communism with nostalgia. However, it is important that you - the young generation should be more aware of the terrible destiny of the Bulgarian population during the communism. And it is us, who have lived during that time to instigate such studies, so you could create your opinion on this difficult and controversial period of our history. It is my personal opinion that there is not enough information about this period and not enough research nationwide. The reasons behind that fact are complex. But I am sure that after having researched on this topic you are more enriched and prepared to work for the European future of the Bulgarian nation.”
The Eustory’s representative Mr. Migel Baros supported the President Peter Stoyanov by stressing that in his home country Portugal, there is a nostalgia for the fascist regime from the 60s years of ХХ century and that the researches done by the young people help the nation to combat the sneaking ghosts from the past. He also shared that more than 90 000 students from 26 European countries have already taken part in the national competitions’ network, one of which is the Bulgarian national competition, organized by the “Values” foundation.
The jury’s chairman professor Liubomir Ognyanov welcomed the participants and noted the fact that when the first history competition in Bulgaria was held in 1998, most of the present participants have not yet been born.
Dr. Momchil Metodiev, Julia Chortleneva, Krasimir Uzunov and Slavka Prodanova were awarded for scientific supervision.
Partners and sponsors of the National history competition are National fund “13 centuries Bulgaria”, “Center for political dialogue Peter Stoyanov,” “Evrotech”, Ministry of education and science, Union of the Bulgarian teachers, Bulgarian history teachers’ association.
After the photo opportunities and expression of appreciation, the participants had the opportunity to visit the exhibitions in the National Gallery.
The ceremony on the awards presentation of the National History Competition 2017 has been very widely covered on a national level: in the main newspapers and online editions, in the three main TV, on the main radio programs. The PR campaign has been supported by the interviews given by President Stoyanov, Mrs Stoyanova, Prof Ognianov and Mrs Petya Geogrieva.