The mayors of Pernik, Svilengrad and Belovo received the major awards in the main category “Mayor of the Year“ at the 14th edition of the national competition. The awards were presented at an official ceremony in Sofia, BNT reported. The awards are distributed in eight categories according to the size of the municipalities, and the organizers also presented two special awards.
For the third time, the prize in the most important category has been awarded to the mayor of Pernik Stanislav Vladimirov.
“This is an award for all the citizens of Pernik. Our city has been developing very rapidly in recent years, we have gone through many trials, but we have shown in these crises and challenges that we are like one big family“, said Stanislav Vladimirov.Burgas with three awards
The mayor of Burgas received three awards from the ceremony. The municipality was honored in the categories “Innovation and Growth“, “Smart City“ and “Health and Demographic Policy“.
Among the awardees are also the municipality of Avren and its mayor Emanuil Manolov. They were honored in the categories “Sports and Youth Policies“ and “Mayor of the Citizens“ for the construction of free gyms and sports grounds, as well as for the support for education.
„We are perhaps the only municipality that finances the education of every resident in a higher educational institution, a university. Currently, we have about 60 people studying medicine and social pedagogy“, said Emanuil Manolov.According to him, the municipality also finances children's camps for students with a grade point average of over 5.00. The goal is for the distinguished children to be an example for their classmates.
Bansko, Samokov and Plovdiv are winners for tourism and culture
In the category „Tourism and Culture“ the winners are determined according to the size of the municipalities. For small municipalities, the distinction goes to Bansko, for medium-sized ones – to Samokov, and for large ones – for Plovdiv.
Visitors to Plovdiv have increased by over 20% in the last year. Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov indicated that the city is increasing its investments in culture by 10% annually.
“In addition to the cultural and historical heritage, in addition to the many destinations that you can see in the city, it is multifaceted“, said Kostadin Dimitrov.The organizer of the competition, Boyan Tomov, stated that local mayors are closest to the citizens and know the needs of their fellow citizens best.
The ceremony will be broadcast on BNT 1 on October 4.
Sources: BNT