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For the second year in a row

Bulgarians on the US West Coast will distinguish prominent personalities

The BGface Foundation awards are in several fields – science, art, culture and education

Consul General Boyko Hristov at the first awards for Bulgarians from the West Coast of the USA
Photo: BgFace Foundation

For the second year in a row, the Bulgarians on the West Coast of the USA will honour the most outstanding among them in several fields - science, art, culture and education. A Certificate for Friends of Bulgaria Abroad will also be presented, and this year the nominee for this is Martin Koenig - the American ethnologist who heard the magical voice of Valya Balkanska at the National Folk Fair in Koprivshtitsa, and then had a significant contribution for having the Bulgarian folk song "Izlel e Delyo Haidutin" fly in outer space onboard the space shuttle Voyager 1.
The awards are presented following the idea of the BgFace foundation, the event will be held on November 1 in Los Angeles, we learn from Maria Samichkova, an associate of Radio Bulgaria in Las Vegas:

"On one of the most cherished holidays - the Day of the National Awakeners, we will gather to reward talented and successful Bulgarians and patriots who love Bulgaria and Bulgarian culture and education," she says and specifies:

"The award ceremony takes place with the courtesy of the Consul General of Bulgaria in Los Angeles Boyko Hristov and Ognyan Gavrilov, president of BgFace, who is one of the most established Bulgarian lawyers on the West Coast of the USA, lives and practices in Sacramento - the capital of California. Lawyer Gavrilov provides a scholarship to Bulgarian students who have a chance to continue their education here in a master's program. The awards are in several areas, and this year the strongest competition is emerging in the field of culture with seven nominations."

The first winners of the awards of BgFace Foundation
"The awards primarily cover the 7 states of the West Coast – California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii. So far, the most nominations are received from the Bulgarian communities from the first five states. We hope to have even stronger response and more nominations from other states in our region of the USA next year," says Maria Samichkova, while not ruling out the future expansion of the geography of the awards for Bulgarians across the Ocean.

At the event, which will be held in one of the largest performing arts centers in Los Angeles - "Dorothy Chandler Pavilion", our compatriots from the West Coast are expecting very special guests from the local government of the state of California, as well as Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel.

Learn who were the distinguished personalities at the first awards ceremony for Bulgarians on the US West Coast in 2022:



Text: Maria Samichkova, Las Vegas, USA
Edited by Elena Karkalanova

English publication by Rositsa Petkova


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