site.btaBTA Correspondent in Vidin Antonina Lozanova Wins Megalizzi-Niedzielski Prize for Aspiring Journalists

BTA correspondent in Vidin (on the Danube) Antonina Lozanova won the Megalizzi-Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists at an awards ceremony in Brussels on Wednesday evening. The prize was presented to her by European Parliament's Committee on Regional Development Chair Younous Omarjee.

Lozanova is part of the European Commission’s Youth4Regions programme, which gives students in journalism and young reporters the opportunity to showcase the work done in their regions with the EU’s help. She won the prize for a video coverage.

Addressing the awards ceremony, Lozanova called for further investments in Bulgaria’s Northwest Region, because many young people return and wish to make a positive change there.

In an interview for BTA, she said that the Megalizzi-Niedzielski prize is a sign that she is walking in the right direction. “I have been BTA correspondent in Vidin for only three months, and it is an impetus to continue growing,” she noted. Lozanova plans to perfect her skills in the field of multimedia. “I already have one friend from every European country. We exchange journalist experience and I feel very charged,” she said after the awards ceremony. 

The Megalizzi-Niedzielski prize is awarded annually during the EU Regions’ Week to three out of the 40 participants from EU Member States and other countries selected for the Youth4Regions programme. The prize honours the memory of Antonio Megalizzi and Bartek Piotr Orent-Niedzielski, young European journalists with a strong attachment to the EU and its values, who passed away after a terrorist attack in Strasbourg in late 2018.