Naval Academy in Varna Awards BTA Director General for Media Partnership

Risida Dimitrova, BTA correspondent Mila Edreva

Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy Rector Flotilla Admiral Prof. Kalin Kalinov awards Bulgarian News Agency Director General Kiril Valchev, Varna, on the Black Sea, May 13, 2026 (BTA Photo/Danail Voykov)

Varna, on the Black Sea,

13.05.2026 20:29

(BTA)

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On the occasion of the 145th anniversary of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna, Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev received an award for media partnership. The plaque was presented by the Academy’s Rector Flotilla Admiral Prof. Kalin Kalinov, at an official ceremony marking the anniversary, held at the Festival and Congress Centre, which hosted the general assembly of the Maritime School.

“It is rare to find an institution whose founding was not covered by BTA, but the Naval Academy is one such case, as it is 145 years old, while the Agency is 128 years old,” Valchev said, as he accepted the award. He recalled that the partnership agreement between the two institutions was signed at the end of March 2021 by the rector back then, Prof. Boyan Mednikarov. The Naval Academy was among the first higher education institutions in Bulgaria to sign a cooperation agreement with BTA, and their number has now reached 51.

Over the past five years, BTA has published 1,261 news reports about the Naval Academy, Valchev added. Of these, 981 were in Bulgarian, meaning that, on average, one story was published every working day. Another 63 reports were published in English, approximately one per week, he added. Valchev also highlighted that the Agency had accompanied the Naval Academy on four Antarctic missions and back, with BTA operating a press club aboard the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii. Two issues of BTA’s LIК magazine, dedicated to the expeditions to the icy continent, have been published not only in Bulgarian, but also in English and Spanish.

In his address to the Academy’s leadership, faculty, sailors, and guests attending the ceremony, Valchev paraphrased verses by the Academy’s patron, poet Nikola Vaptsarov, wishing them to preserve their untamed longing for the sea and the bright stars, to continue loving life, rejecting empty illusions, and keeping their faith in goodness, humanity, and romance rather than in empty hopes.

/DD/