site.btaKyustendil Artist Evgeni Serafimov Receives Maxim Minchev Award for 2024

Kyustendil artist and art teacher Evgeni Serafimov Thursday received the Maxim Minchev Award for 2024 from the GLAS Association. The award was presented at the BTA press club in Bosilegrad, where representatives from various state and cultural institutions gathered for a conference under BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project. The award was given on the 9th anniversary of the the BTA press club in Bosilegrad.

The Maxim Minchev Award, founded by the GLAS Association after the passing of Maxim Minchev, BTA director general from 2003 to 2020, was presented for the fourth year, said GLAS President and BTA correspondent in Bosilegrad Alexander Dimitrov.

BTA correspondent in Kyustendil Elitsa Ivanova announced this year’s winner, saying that Evgeni Serafimov is a deserving person, artist, and educator, creator of many projects. This year, he received the Konstantin Velichkov Award from the Ministry of Education and Science.

The award was presented by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, who underscored that the award honors Maxim Minchev, the person behind BTA’s presence in places with Bulgarian communities. Minchev founded the press club in Bosilegrad and laid the foundations for others in places like Taraclia. Thanks to his vision, BTA has opened national press clubs in Odesa, as well as in the capitals of neighboring countries – Skopje, Bucharest, Ankara, and Belgrade. A press club in Athens is also planned for 2025.

Valchev also said that the award to Evgeni Serafimov symbolizes that all Bulgarians and Bulgarian institutions can work together for common causes.

Receiving the award, Serafimov said that there is something special about the regions that in Bulgaria are considered diaspora. The artist pointed out that in these places, Bulgarians often feel like they are going to help, but what they actually see is the real Bulgaria. "I am committed to making sure my students visit Bosilegrad and find Bulgaria because the real Bulgaria remains there, in the diaspora," he added, noting that Bulgarians abroad preserve its most authentic traits.