site.btaEducation Minister Awards High-Performing Bulgarian Students

During an award ceremony for high-performing students, Education and Science Minister Galin Tzokov said that Bulgarian students compete with the best in the world and often win, as quoted by his Ministry here on Tuesday. The awards are presented at the initiative of the 24 Chasa daily.

A total of 23 Bulgarian A-students were presented with awards. Among them were Ivona-Siyana Staneva, Elitsa Daneva and Anelia Borisova who won the Education Ministry’s first national competition for young talents in interior design in 2023 by creating a living wall of Scandinavian moss in a living room, a table and a chair made of old wooden crates, among other practical ecological solutions.

Nikola and Marina Katsarski, who rank among the top 10 talented children in the world, were also awarded. Nikola has created a work of wool which was sent to space. Marina has won prestigious photography competitions.

The Minister awarded Maria Kostova, who got the maximum score in the Bulgarian language and literature graduation exam, 12th grader Kiril Todorov, who took part in the Education Ministry’s Student Practices – Phase 2 project last year and in 2023 is already employed as a programmer responsible for cyber security at a major bank, and Kaloyan Geshev, who became the world champion in speed math for the second year in a row.

Among the award winners was Viktor Lilov, who won a gold medal at the 2023 International Chemistry Olympiad and a silver medal at the 2023 International Biology Olympiad. He accepted an award on behalf of Bayan Gechev, a gold medalist in astronomy and astrophysics, who was unable to attend the ceremony in person.

Awarded in absentia were also Teodor Malchev, Daniel Dimitrov and Angel Hristov, who made video addresses. Teodor is a silver medal winner at the International Linguistics Olympiad and is currently a Harvard student. Daniel won the gold medal at the 2022 OLGENAS International Geolympiad in Indonesia. Angel won a bronze medal at the 2023 International Mathematical Olympiad in Japan.

The event was also addressed via video message by Veselin Markovich, a winner of many medals in mathematics and computer science, who is currently attending another competition in Slovenia.

Two promising young Bulgarian scientists - Yavor Hristov and Preslav Georgiev - silver medal winners at the International Chemistry Olympiad, also received awards. The youngest member of Mensa Bulgaria, Ivo Kirkov, was also awarded.

Awards were also handed out to Samuel Nikolov, who has been accepted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, tenth-grader Gergana Stoitseva, who managed to demonstrate how astronauts can grow food during their missions in space, Maria Drencheva, who is recognized as the best mathematician in Europe in 2023, 10-year-old Sava Troanski, winner of many medals in math contests in Bulgarian and abroad, and Yoana Mladenova, who scored 100/100 points in both national external assessment exams after Grade 7, and sixth-grader Marin Botev.