Chitalishte Oscar Goes to Kurtovo Konare's Eco Initiative

Saturday, 31 March 2018

At the official ceremony held on March 30 in Sofia, Contest AGORA 2017 awarded the most successful Chitalishte community initiative. Anonymously, the guests of the ceremony chose Chitalishte "Luben Karavelov 1897", Kurtovo Konare village to be the big winner with their initiative "Ecological Education - a Bridge to Sustainable Local Community Development". The project was implemented in order to increase the ecological culture of the community and to establish new partnerships for sustainable local development. An extensive database was compiled regarding the natural heritage of Kurtovo Konare, presentations were prepared for children, youth and adults, the web site of Kurtovo Konare was upgraded with the application "The Nature of Kurtovo Konare" with a broad range of resources and options for submitting eco alerts.

The awards to the five finalists in the Contest AGORA 2017 categories were presented at the ceremony. The Contest Jury selected the following five finalists:

• Category "Community in Development" to Chitalishte "Razvitie 1893", Mindya village, Veliko Tarnovo municipality for their initiative "Everybody Together under the Roof, for the Roof";
• Category "Solidarity and Humanity" to Chitalishte "Shalom Aleyhem 1945", Plovdiv for the initiative "We Entertain and Create Together with Mom";
• Category "Art and Culture for Development" to Chitalishte "Luben Karavelov 1940", Burgas for International Literature Youth Contest "Art against Drugs";
• Category "Perspectives for Growth" to Chitalishte "Gradina-Varbitca 1894", Varbitca village for "Varbitca Celebrates - Dripava Banitsa";
• Category "Most Productive Partnership" to Chitalishte "Luben Karavelov 1897", Kurtovo Konare village for "Ecological Education - a Bridge to Sustainable Local Community Development".

An award named "Damyan Minkov" for social art was awarded for the first time at Contest AGORA 2017 and went to Chitalishte "Zora - 1990", Pobeda village for their initiative "With Puppet Theater around Europe".

A special award "Brotherhood" was presented to Chitalishte “Hristo Botev 1928”, Stoletovo village for their initiative Childrens Park "Sunny Smiles". The award was provided by another Chitalishte that received the Grand Award last year - Chitalishte "Bratstvo 1869", Kustendil.

For a sixth year the Ministry of Culture awarded a special certificate to Chitalishte "P.K.Yavorov - 1926", Meshtica village, Pernik municipality for IX edition of National Childrens' Folklore Contest "Dai, babo oganche!"

Contest AGORA 2017 was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The event was organized by Platform AGORA with the financial support of Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and in partnership with PRoWay Communication Agency , The Pleven Community Fund "Chitalishte", Chitalishte "Bratstvo 1869", Kustendil , Chitalishte "Obedinenie 1913", Karjdali , Hotel "Ramada Sofia" and with the media support of the Bulgarian National Radio and ngobg.info (Information Portal of NGOs in Bulgaria).

Photos: Mihail Georgiev