Burgas and the region had four nominees at the 15th Biodiversity and Climate Awards, run by the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation. None of them won.
The shortlist included the "Bike Friday" and "Swap Pop-up – Burgas" campaigns, the "VODA" contemporary arts festival and an investigation into the aftermath of the flood at the Elenite resort.
The awards were presented on 9 October at the Pero literary club in Sofia. There are seven categories, with two winners in each: one picked by an expert jury and one by public vote.
The two Burgas campaigns competed in the local initiatives category. "Bike Friday" encourages children to cycle to school, while "Swap Pop-up – Burgas" is a clothes swap event. The jury picked a citizens' initiative in the Ustovo district of Smolyan, which opposes the felling of a forest. The public chose the long-running defence of Bedechka park in Stara Zagora.
The "VODA" festival was nominated in the new "Art for Biodiversity and Climate" category. The jury preferred "Wings of the Mountain", which links protected species with local musical traditions, while the public voted for the joint student project "Symbiosis".
The investigation into the Elenite flood was nominated in the journalism category. The awards there went to the radio project "Black Sea Stories" and reporter Nikolay Vasilkovski.
The activist awards went to Vasil Todev, for the protected area "Golyama Syutka", and Georgi Ivanov, mayor of the village of Srebarna. In the campaign category, the winners are the "Right to Nature" project and the initiative to bring the black vulture back to the Eastern Rhodopes.
The second new category, for scientific contribution, honoured the team studying lakes Shabla and Ezerets, and researchers of climate data from mountain peaks. In the responsible business category, the awards went to a regenerative farm and an electricity distribution company that makes power lines along the Danube safer for birds.
A special posthumous award for lifetime contribution was presented in memory of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Antoaneta Petrova. It recognises her many years of work protecting plant diversity in Bulgaria.