Civic Alarm Clock Festival 2023 – we honored the authors in the competition of the same name

Why are they entitled to a festival? Because freedom is not a given…

For the third year in a row, the Bulgarian Center for Non-Profit Law puts rights on stage! The Civic Alarm Clock Contest continues to believe in the power of art as one of the most influential ambassadors of civil rights and liberties! AND THAT'S WHY – for so long now we do our best to put rights in the spotlight through art, so that people remember why it is important for everyone to actively protect them.

This year's festival offered over a 12-hour program of diverse events, which made the visitors excited and reflect. Nearly 10 civic organizations gathered on July 1 in and around the Toplocentrala Centre for Contemporary Arts in Sofia and in their own way, each and every one showed why and exactly how important it is to be together as one and to help each other, to build bridges, not walls, and to be part of a strong and healthy civil society.

The festival marathon started with the game of the Rooster of the Civic Alarm Clock, which woke up both children and adults with curious riddles and morning gymnastics for the brain in the park. 

The association Za Zemiata (For the Earth) showed through an interactive card game how we affect the environment and what we must do so that this influence of ours is as considerate as possible towards our nature.

Emergency rescue Plovdiv demonstrated how to provide first aid to those who have been in a disaster or accident and shared their experiences and stories of the cases in which someone needed their help.

A Lucky Stone painting workshop, prepared by our friends from Society 528, revealed how we can make art ourselves with our own inspiration and without using plastic and leaving waste.

We also had a coffee… and decided to turn it into art too! Along with Made with Love and coffee artist Stefka Nikolova we painted with coffee, transferring our energy to the coffee and onto the canvas.

 We are very glad that we were able to meet authors who participated in the competition in previous years, as well as to meet in person many of the artists who took part in this year’s edition of Civic Alarm Clock. We talked and exchanged experiences and ideas on how to reach more people and how to find like-minded people who believe in the cause of fighting for human rights and putting them on a pedestal.

Shtrak and DarPazar once again showed how good they are at showing the variety of products of the social entrepreneurs we work with. Everyone could tap into the civic energy and understand the causes of the civic organizations behind them.

The moment we have all been waiting for has arrived – the announcement of the winners of the the sixth edition of the "Civic Alarm Clock" contest. This year, 85 Bulgarian artists participated in the three competition categories: "Illustration", "Photography" and "Text". The topic which inspired them to create, was "Connected in goodness – the power to help each other" and the proposals presented were extremely impressive. The award ceremony was led by Iva Doichinova – a journalist for civil causes and friend of BCNL.

And now – here are the authors who were awarded prizes in the three competition categories:

 

AWARD-WINNING WORKS AND THEIR AUTHORS IN THE "TEXT" CATEGORY

The works were evaluated and ranked by a jury composed of: Veselina Sedlarska, Zahari Karabashliev, and Stefan Ivanov

First place: Svilen Delchev – for the story “The tiles in front of the entrance”

Second place: Ivan Totev – for the essay “Birthday in Hell”

Third place: Izabel Plamenova – for the essay “Be Human”

Honorary award: Maria Karakasheva – for the essay “The day I decided I won’t be a fool”

Honorary award: Tatyana Yolin – for the story “DISGUST”

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The award “Choice of the audience” from the online vote: Toni Kisyova – Huba – “The Nightingale Herald or Tale of the Good”

 

AWARD-WINNING WORKS AND THEIR AUTHORS IN THE "ILLUSTRATION" CATEGORY

The works were evaluated and ranked by a professional jury: Velina Mavrodinova, Rosalina Burkova, and Vesela Dancheva

First place: VALYO – for the illustration “A House in the sky”

Second place: Georgi Georgiev-Arshata – for the illustration “za1” (translation: “together as one”)

Third place: Tanya Bozhinova – for the illustration “Pass it on”

Honorary award: Neli Borisova – for the illustration “Together we are stronger”

Honorary award: Stanislav Ivanov Georgiev-Slavi – for the illustration “The new titans”

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The award “Choice of the audience” from the online vote: Polina Miteva – for the drawing “Let the blooming good shine in our hearts”

 

 

AWARD-WINNING WORKS AND THEIR AUTHORS IN THE "PHOTOGRAPHY" CATEGORY

The works were evaluated and ranked by a professional jury: Nadezhda Pavlova, Miroslav Marinov, and Alexander Nikolov

First place: Ivan Totev – for the photographs “In the name of the good”, “A sunset from the fifteenth floor”, “We hear them!”, “The man and the machine”, and “An Angel in Hell”

Second place: Tihomira Metodieva-Tihich – for the photographs “Volunteers in the flooded village Trilistnik, 04.09.2022”, “Cleaning of the flooded village Slatina, 05.09.2022”, “The team of Emergency Rescue Plovdiv in the village Karavelovo on the Unification Day, 06.09.2022”, “Cleaning of the flooded village Karavelovo on the Unification Day, 06.09.2022”, “Cleaning of the flooded village Karavelovo on the Unification Day, 06.09.2022”

Third place: Denislav Stoychev – for the photograph series “Volunteers clean the region of the shelter “Orlovets” (“BAK”) in the Rila mountain in the event “Clean the mountains” of the ecological association “Za Zemiata””

Honorary award and The award “Choice of the audience” from the online vote: Tatyana Garkavaya – for the photograph “Strengthening an artificial pelican island”

Honorary award: Snezhi Dinkova – for the photograph series “Plant a tree, follow the good”

 

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With a raffle, the names of three people who supported their favorites in the three categories through online voting were drawn as well.

 

The BCNL team thanks everyone who participated in the contest! We believe that through your art every single one of brings change and inspiration to many others!

The "First Place" honorees in each of the three categories received a cash prize of BGN 700, "Second place" – BGN 550, "Third place" – BGN 400. Authors with honorary awards and those honored with the special "Audience's Choice" award received prizes with the design vision of the Civic Alarm Clock.

The total prize fund was provided thanks to the generous support of the civic activists, art connoisseurs, friends and partners within the donor campaign organized by the Bulgarian Center for Non-Profit Law. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who became part of this process and supported the talented artists and the organization of the festival, with a total amount of BGN 11,120.

And let's not forget who took care of the mood before and after the ceremony – the people of the music, of course. On the stage were not only the rights, but also two top bands who got our groove on! The seven members of “Funkilicious” – vocals, guitar, piano, bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet warmed up the ceremony and the audience, and the band “Taraleshta” put the cherry on top of the evening with smashing performances!

Thank you to everyone who was part of this adventure – artists, activists, civil organizations, donors, citizens, volunteers, musicians, journalists – without you The Citizen's Alarm Clock couldn't make sense because you are exactly its powerful voice!

 

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We are proud to share that this year, for the first time, we are co-creating the Civic Alarm Clock Festival with the support of our wise donors who have joined our charity campaign. Thank you for becoming an important part of our community of like-minded people who believe that through socially engaged art we can speak out and defend our rights!

 

The event is made possible with the financial support of America for Bulgaria Foundation. The festival is supported by the Summer Program of Sofia Municipality and is part of the Sofia Municipality's Calendar of Cultural Events for 2023. Our partners are "Future" Pension Insurance Company. Media partner of the initiative is the Bulgarian National Radio.