site.btaBTA Receives Honorary Plaque for Its 126th Anniversary

Admiral Boyan Mednikarov, head of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna, presented the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) with an honorary plaque and a certificate on the occasion of its 126th anniversary. BTA Director General Kiril Valchev received the award on behalf of the Agency on board the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) on Friday.

Mednikarov congratulated BTA on behalf of the Naval Academy and the RSV 421. In his speech, Valchev compared BTA to Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, as both share a curiosity about the world and a desire for discovery.

Three individuals – Valchev, head of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute Prof. Christo Pimpirev and Bulgaria's Ambassador to Argentina Stoyan Mihailov – were also awarded during the ceremony with badges of honour "For sailing in the Southern Ocean".

Earlier February, BTA unveiled a national press club at the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island.

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During the 32nd Bulgarian expedition to Antarctica, which started on November 8, 2023, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is publishing interviews with Antarctic researchers. The Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log again provides coverage of the voyage of the Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii to Antarctica and back and its stay there, as it did during the 31st expedition between December 27, 2022 and May 2, 2023. Back then, only BTA had a correspondent, Daily News Editor Konstantin Karagyozov, who covered the 127-day expedition with text, video and photos during the entire voyage (including across the Atlantic in both directions) and throughout the stay in Antarctica. In June 2023, BTA published in Bulgarian and in English an issue of its LIK magazine "To Antarctica and Back under the Bulgarian Flag" dedicated to the historic expedition.

Again, all of BTA's information on the Bulgarian scientific research in Antarctica and the support provided by the Bulgarian naval research vessel, as well as on the other activities at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base, will be available to all media outlets in Bulgarian and in English on BTA's website in the Bulgaria - Antarctica: BTA's Log section.

BTA has a National Press Club on board the ship and is planning to open a National Press Club at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island.