For the 12^th consecutive year the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee awarded individuals with specific or significant public activity, in the past 12 months, aimed at asserting human rights, animal or environmental protection. The ceremony took place on Human Rights Day, 10 December, in online format due to the Covid-19 pandemic, though this in no way hindered the winners from elaborating on the causes they have devoted their time and energy to, entirely pro bono.

This year the jury considered 70 nominations of 59 individuals and organizations. Of them 50 were admitted to participate. Out of these 50 the winners in the various categories were selected.

The “Human of the Year” award was bestowed on all medical professionals and volunteers who have dedicated themselves to saving human lives in Covid-19 wards throughout the country. On behalf of the medical community the award was received by Dr. Aya Taha and Dr. Sezen Habilov.

The young family of anesthesiologists was among the first volunteers in the isolation ward of Pirogov emergency hospital at the start of the pandemic in this country in March.

​“It is an honour for us to receive this award, but we must emphasize that we haven’t done anything all that heroic,” Dr. Sezen Habilov said today. “We are sure that all colleagues would do the same and as the pandemic unfolded, this was proved true, and they are now working on the ground 24/7. So that this prize is for them too. An integral element of the spirit of all people from the medical profession in Bulgaria is a sense of duty and self-sacrifice.”

The activists from the “For a proper children’s hospital” civic initiative were declared first runners-up.

The “Journalist of the year” award went to Maria Tsuntsarova.

Advocate of the year – to Ivan Burgov, who actively upholds the rights of people with impaired hearing. He too is a journalist who creates specialized news entirely in the Bulgarian sign language.

The prize “Activist of the year” was awarded to Danita Zarichonova from Za Zemiata (For the Earth) environmental organization for her efforts in support of various environmental and public causes in the country.

“One of the aims of these awards is to shed light on people and organizations who have been working throughout the year to help different causes and communities. The “Human of the Year” award ought to motivate all of us, watching from the sidelines, to make a bigger effort to support these kind of causes and communities, to encourage the people who have been doing just that to continue to do so,” Nadezhda Tsekulova, campaigns and communications director at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee explained for the BNR’s Radio Sofia channel.

Photos: BHC and library