site.btaBulgarian Project Competing for 2025 Civil Society Prize of European Economic and Social Committee

A Bulgarian project is one out of 58 from 15 countries competing for the Civil Society Prize of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for 2025, the EESC team told BTA. The deadline for applications by civil organizations, natural persons, and private companies from Member States was November 7.

The aim of the EESC Civil Society Prize, which was created in 2006, is to reward and encourage tangible achievements and initiatives by civil society organisations and/or individuals at all levels - European, national, regional and local - that significantly contribute to promoting European identity and integration. The specific theme for each edition of the prize is set by the EESC President. The theme for 2025 is combatting the harmful polarisation of European society.

The number of projects competing for the Civil Society Prize in the last ten years varied between 55 and 285, the EESC told BTA. The usual number is higher than 100 projects, with the exception of the latest and two others editions. The prize fund is EUR 50,000, which will be distributed between no more than five winners. The award ceremony will probably take place in March 2025, during the Civil Society Week organized by the EESC.

Bulgarian projects have already won a Civil Society Prize. In 2019, the NAIA Association's Magical Fairy Tales project won EUR 9,000 with its idea to use classic fairy tales to combat the stereotypical roles of women and men and discriminative social normes imposed on girls and boys from an early age and limiting their future opportunities and decisions. In 2020, the KarinDom foundation won a Civil Society Prize with its project for online education for families with children with special needs as a way to support and motivate the parents to continue their children's teraphy at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Bulgaria was represented in the competition by the Bulgarian Red Cross and KarinDom.