For the sixth year running, the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad is organizing an award ceremony on 25 March – Bulgarian Woman of the Year, 2014 named after St. Zlata of Muglen. Zlata was slain by the Turks during the Ottoman domination of the Bulgarian lands for refusing to betray her faith. In many Bulgarian churches she is depicted as wearing traditional costume. Zlata of Muglen has gone down in the collective memory of the Bulgarian nation as a custodian of the Bulgarian spirit and dignity. The award named after her is a bronze statuette, a stylized image of the saint. It is bestowed for contribution to the preservation and promotion of our national and cultural identity among Bulgarian communities abroad. The nominations come from Bulgaria but also from abroad. This year the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad received 29 nominations from 17 countries.

Here now is Anyuta Kacheva, member of the Bulgarian National Radio’s management board who is a member of the jury, about the difficult choice they had to make:

“While I was listening to the nominations one more time I realized that what Bulgarian women around the world are doing is conveying the message that Bulgaria is not a mere geographical notion. It is the living, breathing hearth all of these people have created – Bulgarians who have dedicated their personal, social and professional time to the idea of Bulgaria, its historical memory, the Bulgarian identity and tradition. In this sense they set down the borders of the territory of Bulgaria. I am thrilled because I myself am a woman. We must never forget that outside Europe there are very few places, no more than 10 I think, where women are able to be an individual entitled to a personal, social and professional life of dignity. That is why I am happy to say we have a Bulgarian woman, who thanks to her talent and efforts has been making up for this lack of balance in the world. It is so great to be a woman! We saw 29 such women and selecting just one was a difficult thing.”

The role of Bulgarian women is all the more important in the Bulgarian communities abroad. The Bulgarian language has been preserved there over hundreds of years mostly because it is used in the home which is the domain of women. The use of Bulgarian lies at the basis of the preservation of the Bulgarian cultural identity. No need to point out that the preservation of the language, the songs, fairytales, of the Bulgarian dignity should all be attributed to Bulgarian women. Bulgarian Woman of the Year, 2014 is once again founder of a Bulgarian school – Irina Vladikova, headmistress of what is now one of the biggest schools abroad – Cyril and Methodius in Vienna, Austria. Irina Vladikova is also deputy chair of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad.

“Thank you all for this great honour – the Bulgarian Woman of the Year award,” she said. “I am still under the impression of the nominations I heard and saw, of everything that Bulgarian women around the world have been doing to keep the bond with our home country alive. I very much doubt that any of us – the founders of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad – could have dreamed eight years ago when we were setting it up, that the award would be bestowed on one of us, i.e. on our organization for the fourth time. The Association has selflessly been working towards the preservation of the Bulgarian language and identity among our compatriots abroad. The Bulgarian Woman of the Year award is a very great honour for me and I can say I feel proud of our triumph through thick and thin. We, school teachers abroad have been creating a new Bulgarian territory in the modern globalized world,” said Irina Vladikova.

English version: Milena Daynova