Sofia City Library Presents Its Tenth Annual Awards

Emanuel Smarkov, Gergana Nikolova, Petya Petrova

The recipients of this year's awards (BTA Photo/Nikola Uzunov)

Sofia,

21.01.2025 20:14

(BTA)

The Sofia City Library presented its tenth annual awards, recognizing the most popular writers and most active readers. The ceremony took place on Tuesday in the library building.

The Sofia City Library is the largest public library in Bulgaria, said Director Yulia Tsinzova. She said the library proves with these annual awards that it deserves a bigger home, better equipment and better conditions for keeping books. "Ten years ago, the Sofia City Library developed an ambitious ten-year programme to promote reading and attract new reading audiences. We started with the summer Green Libraries. Every year, for ten years now, we have set up camp in the city's parks in July and August," she noted.

"It was very important for us to bring readers, writers, publishers, librarians, and all of our colleagues in non-profit organizations together to get better support," Tzinzova said of the annual awards. She added that this year will also mark the tenth anniversary of the library's literary club.

WRITERS OF THE DECADE

This year's awards include categories for Reader of the Year, Writer of the Year, Poet of the Year, Most Read Author of Science and Popular Fiction, Most Read Author of Children's Literature, and Media. At this anniversary edition, special prizes were also awarded for the Most Read Author of the Decade (2014 - 2024). The recipients are Georgi Gospodinov, Zahari Karabashliev, Stefan Tsanev, Zdravka Evtimova and Prof. Tsocho Boyadzhiev.

Georgi Gospodinov thanked all the readers and writers present in the hall. “We are all readers in this hall,” he said. “Some of us are writers, we may not remain writers, but we are all readers and we will remain readers,” said the author of "The Gardener and Death". He recalled that writer Yordan Radichkov had died on this day. He said that "literature is Radichkov’s fox that plays dead". "We speak of the death of literature year after year, but it keeps resurrecting," Gospodinov added. He added that he believes that literature and reading are like this Radichkov's fox - "they only look or pretend to be dead, but they will not go away soon". Reading, after all, educates taste and this taste is important from a political and hu,am point of view,” the writer added.

"I value this award highly because it is an award that is given by the most heterogeneous, the most varied, the largest jury, namely - the jury of readers", said Zahari Karabashliev. According to him, in today's world of fast news, the library is an oasis where he sees a collection of humanity, wisdom, peace. "In libraries I am overwhelmed by a thing that I can most simply call intellectual humility, because here is all wisdom. Here I realize the limitations of my own experience, intellect, talent. And it makes me especially grateful that the novels I have written are alongside the covers of other books I grew up with and that have made me who I am," said the author of “Wound”.

"We are, first and foremost, readers who respond to the written word differently," said Prof. Tsocho Boyadzhiev. “We owe a lot to the librarians and I wish that everything that is planned as an expansion of the library will come true.

The other two recipients of the award, Zdravka Evtimova and Stefan Tsanev, were not present at the ceremony.

BTA RECEIVES AWARD FOR SUSTAINABLE MEDIA PARTNERSHIP

The special award of the decade (2014-2024) for sustainable media partnership was awarded to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). The prize was presented by Sofia City Library Director Yulia Tsinzova to BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, who noted that the agency will celebrate its 127th anniversary on February 16. It will then unveil a new space for its archives as well as present the BTA font.

A special award in the Media category was also given to bTV, Nova TV and the Bulgarian National Television. During the ceremony, journalists Victor Dremsisov from Bulgaria on Air and Angela Dimcheva from Trud newspaper were recognized for their work.

THE AWARDS

A special award was given to writer Vladimir Zarev. "Mr. Zarev, even the date on which you were born - October 5, International Teacher's Day, seems to foreshadow your role as a spiritual teacher of readers. Discovering the truth about the soul, about who we are, what we are and what we want to be," said Deputy Minister of Culture Kalin Velyov, who presented the award. "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Sofia City Library, to this amazing temple of our national spirituality. The Sofia City Library, unlike many things in our lives, shimmers with purity," Zarev said. The writer also thanked the director of the library, Yulia Tsinzova, for "turning this day into a great national holiday every year."

Tony Nikolov was recognized as the most read author of books about Sofia. Viktoria Beshliiska was recognized as Writer of the Year. The runners-up in the category were Teodora Dimova and Georgi Bardarov. The most read poet in 2024 in the Sofia Library was Georgi Konstantinov. The runners-up in the category were also Mirela Ivanova and Prof. Amelia Licheva. The award for the most read author of non-fiction was awarded to prof. Nikolay Ovcharov, and prizes were also awarded to the runners-up Dr. Alexander Stoyanov and Dr. Stefan Ivanov. Evgenia Voynova was named the most read author of children's literature. Tsveta Brestnichka and Tsanko Lalev were also awarded in the category.

Readers of the Year were students Dimana Valova and Steliyan Todorov, nine-year-old Ida Katsarkova, 17-year-old Issa Stefanova. The family that reads the most of 2024 is that of Polya and Valeri Gochev and their three children.

“Let the libraries be the temples that will bring back faith in a better world,” said Nataliya Kiselova, Chair of the National Assembly during the ceremony. She quoted the words of the first professor of constitutional law, Stefan Kirov, who said the university has a role and it is not just to teach students law, but to be an example to society and to be with their people. “I would very much like university professors to be the people who awaken society,” Kiselova noted.

“A reading family creates around itself another aura, another space of sharing - something that all of us as human beings have been missing a lot lately,” Vice President Iliana Iotova noted. "Yes, everyone has their own interest, everyone has their own book, but the magic of this space is the community and the possibility to have a real dialogue and to talk," Yotova said. She presented the award for the family that reads the most of 2024.

The event was also attended by the Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council Tsvetomir Petrov, Blagorodna Zdravkova – Sofia Deputy Mayor for Culture, Education, Sports and Youth Activities, Ivan Vassilev – Sofia Deputy Mayor for Finance and Health, Sredets Borough Mayor Traicho Traikov, Kalina Ivanova, Director of the National Library, Mihail Gruev. Chairman of the State Archives Agency, Prof. Alexander Kyosev, Prof. Mihail Nedelchev, the Chair of the Board of the Bulgarian Book Association Desislava Alexieva, Spaska Tarandova - Executive Director of the Global Libraries Foundation - Bulgaria, Stanislav Georgiev - Chief Expert at the Regional Department of Education in Sofia, Prof. Stoyan Denchev and others.

/PP/