BTA :: Anita Ekenova Wins Bulgarian Woman of the Year

Anita Ekenova Wins Bulgarian Woman of the Year – St Zlata of Meglen 2024 Award

Angela Georgieva

Anita Ekenova (right) receives the Bulgarian Woman of the Year – St Zlata of Meglen 2024 Award, October 15, 2025 (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)

Sofia,

15.10.2025 18:15

(BTA)

The official ceremony for the presentation of the Bulgarian Woman of the Year – St Zlata of Meglen 2024 Award took place the Maxima Hall of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia on Wednesday. This year’s laureate is Anita Ekenova from Lyon, France. The award was presented to Ekenova by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, who handed her a statuette crafted by Atanas Karadichev and an icon of St Zlata of Meglen.

After receiving the award, Ekenova expressed gratitude to the dancers from her ensemble Ot Izvora, to the participants in the travelling festival Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance of the Association of Bulgarian Folklore Ensembles Abroad, to the committee that nominated her, to BTA and the Bulgarian National Radio, and to her mother, Naska Angelova.

Twenty Bulgarian women living in eleven different countries were nominated for this year’s award.

Plaques recognizing contributions to the promotion of Bulgarian language, folklore, culture, and spirituality abroad were presented to: Kina Bagovska (USA), Iliana Ilieva-Dabova (Spain), Zhivka Bubalova-Petrova (USA), Nina Wasilewa-Zanechev (Austria), Anita Ekenova (France), Lilyana Zafirova (Hungary), and Nadezhda Ivanova (Germany).

At the close of the ceremony, UNWE Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov presented Raina Mandzhukova, Executive Director of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, with an honorary plaque for her efforts to unite Bulgarian communities around the world.

Special guests at the event included Elena Shekerletova, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ashot Kazaryan, Deputy Minister of Culture; Miklos Boros, Ambassador of Hungary to Bulgaria; Irene Maria Plank, Ambassador of Germany to Bulgaria; Anne-Charlotte Montin, Deputy Ambassador of France to Bulgaria; Luis Gonzalez Vaya, Counsellor at the Embassy of Spain in Bulgaria; Nevena Stoyanova, representative of the Cultural and Media Relations Department of the Embassy of Austria; Milena Dimitrova, representative of the Vice President of Bulgaria; Biserka Yosifova, Executive Director of the 13 Centuries of Bulgaria National Endowment Fund; and Radoslava Nedyalkova, Chair of the Association of Bulgarian Folklore Ensembles Abroad.

Members of the jury included Prof. Plamen Pavlov, Prof. Ana Kocheva of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova, Director of the State Cultural Institute with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kiril Valchev, Director General of BTA, Milen Mitev, Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio, and Raina Mandzhukova, Executive Director of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad.

/DS, KK/