site.btaUPDATED BTA Director General Receives Honorary Medal of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences President

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) awarded BTA Director General Kiril Valchev with the Honorary Medal of the BAS President for professionalism, journalistic ethics and for long-standing contribution in covering the BAS achievements. The distinction was presented to Valchev by BAS President Academician Julian Revalski.

The ceremony took place at BAS and was attended by the recipient's family: wife Sylvia Boteva - Valcheva, son Alexander Valchev and daughter Ana Maria Valcheva, and brother Pavel Valchev. Also present were the BAS vice presidents, corresponding member Dr. Evdokia Pashheva and corresponding member Dr. Stefan Hadzhitodorov.

The BAS President called Valchev "one of our most enthusiastic friends, outside the Academy, who in a systematic way covers the activities of BAS as it is - without glossing over the problems that need to be resolved". He recalled that eight years ago, when he became chairman of BAS, he first participated in Darik Radio's The Week show, which Valchev then hosted.

Academician Revalski also said, "Scientists are the kind of people who are very often absorbed in what they are doing and think it is not so important to tell the others what they are doing in plain words, or are very often shy. However, the social role of science in recent years has been extremely important and social engagement and responsibility, and what Kiril Valchev has done at Darik Radio, and now at BTA, is extremely important. I am very glad that since he took over as Director General, our relations with BTA have been very strong, and the news agency regularly reports on the BAS work with stories for domestic and foreign users."

Valchev said that the Honorary Medal is "a medal of duty - not of merit" for him "because those of us who have a tribune to speak to the others bear a huge duty to represent those who really deserve to be represented - both those who are working today in the field of science and those who in the past have left a lasting mark". He noted that this distinction has been given to such great names that have made their mark in Bulgarian history that the comparison can only be humbling. 

Valchev said to him the honour is "also a recognition for the Bulgarian media". "You have listed the places where I have worked - in the Bulgarian national Darik Radio, now in BTA, but many other media deserve recognition for their works to promote science and to show that your work does not go unnoticed".

He said further, "I already have one award from BAS, I don't have many personal awards, but in 2020 I received, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary [of BAS], the annual award in the Electronic Media category. Then fate took me to the BTA and there, indeed, together, we did many things. We established a working agreement between BTA and BAS for weekly coverage of the activities of the BAS institutes and BAS scientists. The highlights are translated into English. We have also concluded several agreements with individual institutes that have very visible activities, for example the Archaeological Institute with Museum, the Ethnographic Institute, the Institute for Space Studies, and they additionally provide a lot of information to us."

He also talked about the resumption of BTA's LIK magazine for art and culture, which has recently put out several special issues on scientific topics: Antarctic research and space science. They also turn out to be the "best sellers" abroad and that is why we have translated the issues dedicated to Bulgarian science in Antarctica and the first and second Antarctic voyage of the Bulgarian naval research ship Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii, said Valchev. He presented the leadership of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with an issue of the magazine, which features several BAS researchers working in Antarctica. 

"We were able to publish three volumes for the 125th anniversary of the BTA. The first collects personal testimonies of outstanding BTA staffers. The second is about the history of BTA, authored by Panayot Denev, himsrlf a former BTA Director General with the participation of an extremely valuable editor, Prof. Rumiana Preshlenova, who headed the Institute of Balkan Studies," noted Kiril Valchev. He added that the published third volume is with news from the BTA archives. It is again edited by prof. Preshlenova and prepared with the Prof. Marin Drinov publishing house of BAS.

Valchev said that the honour he has just received would have pleased the most his father, who was the founder of the National Polytechnic Museum. "My father spent a lot of time at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, he was one of the most active people in the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria and in the Science magazine", he said.

The BAS President and the BTA Director General also talked about the proper use of the Bulgarian language and the opportunities for more scientists to participate in Bulgarian politics.