Everybody can nominate an individual or an organisation for specific human rights acts/practices, carried out in the period November 2009 – October 2010.

Read more about the Award here.

Read the nomination criteria here.

Nominate online here, or send to address 7 Varbitsa Street, Sofia 1504, Bulgaria until October 31, 2010.

The online voting for the Public Choice Award is from November 1 to December 6, 2010.

The Awards ceremony will be held on December 10, the International Day of Human Rights, in Sofia.

We are looking for the bold, the tenacious, those with civil courage – in order to honour and encourage them.

We are looking for the acts that are a precedent in the sphere of human rights, that have significant potential for stimulating societal development, or are simply innovative and creative.

We are looking for them because we know that they frequently remain unheard or undervalued.

We want to show the courage of the people in Bulgaria and to catalyze their fight for human rights in Bulgaria.

Theodora Zaharieva, founder of the Center for the Protection of Rights in Health Care was awarded the Human of the Year Award 2009 at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Annual Awards for contribution to human rights.

The Ceremony was held, on the international day of human rights, the 10 December, in Sofia.

“Theodora and the Center have been successful representing their clients in cases of significant public value against state authorities, and their victories in court benefited thousands of people, winning thousands of leva in compensation for damages. The cases concern medical malpractice, medical care denial, and inadequate medical equipment, the authorities’ failure to introduce legislation that would guarantee the right to adequate health care and to provide medications. The Center’s litigation activities include groundbreaking class actions that aim at providing protection on a large scale to particular groups of patients. Among these are lawsuits against pharmaceutical corporations for damage to health caused by medical research. The Center’s work combines the true human rights approach and the conviction that the people should have control over their human rights, that these rights are achievable, and that all depends on each of us.” – these were part of the jury’s considerations in selecting the winner.

Apart from the Human of the Year Award, the jury awarded two Second Awards and two Special Awards.

Donka Panayotova and the Facebook group Voting Without Borders won Second Awards.

Donka Panayotova – the only woman leader of a Roma rights organization (the NGO Drom based in Vidin) – received the award for her advocacy work on equal access to education for Roma children in Bulgaria. For more than a decade she and her team have been taking practical steps to end segregation of Roma children in schools in Vidin and the region. With her help, approximately 1700 children have been transferred from ghetto schools to inclusive classrooms; 700 children gained access to desegregated schools in 2009.

The Facebook group Voting Without Borders received an award for mobilising the civil society in order to protect the equal right to vote. The reasons behind Voting Without Borders were the numerous complaints from Bulgarians living abroad who did not have the chance to vote in the European Parliament elections in 2009 because of the insufficient number of polling locations and the procedural inflexibility of setting up additional polling centers. Following considerable pressure from Voting Without Borders the Bulgarian Central Election Commission amended its regulations to allow for the opening of polling centers in every location that featured a Bulgarian community.

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and the jury for the Human of the Year Award 2009 presented two Special Awards.

Architect Kalina Pavlova from Varna received the prize for her outstanding perseverance during her fight for the protection of public interest. She was fearless in fighting any unlawful or questionable decision of the municipal authorities which favoured corporate interests and held the potential to harm the public good or the transparency in local government. The jury found her “a brave and uncompromising person who stands in opposition to the authorities and harmful business interests. Kalina is the most deserving among the people whose work and civil conscience made a difference in Bulgarian in 2009.”

Kapka Panayotova received the award for her general contribution to the protection of human rights in Bulgaria. Kapka Panayotova is founder and ‘engine’ of the Center for Independent Living – Sofia, an organisation which since 1995 has been working on promoting independent living and equal opportunities for all. Kapka had been involved with strategic litigation concerning accessible environment for people with disabilities – for example, inaccessible underground public transport, court buildings and un-adapted education system. Under her management the Center was responsible for legislative changes introduced with the Integration of People with Disabilities Act and the Regulation for the Application of this act, as well as the Protection against Discrimination Act.

The Public Choice Award was presented to the nominee who received the largest number of votes submitted through online voting on the web-site: www.humanoftheyear.org. The winner is “Spasi, dari na…”, an organisation whose mission for the last three years has been to support campaigns for the treatment of children. The nomination of “Spasi, dari na…” was submitted by Boryana Kirilova and Krassimira Velichkova who said that “The initiative “Spasi, dari na…” is a unique example in Bulgaria of an informal civil society group whose purpose is to give help. Their team is also working towards a reformation in governmental policies and the creation of practical mechanisms that would ensure that the health of children would not be dependent on private donations. This is an entirely voluntary group. Until now, they have helped find treatment for 25 children by raising more than 2,5 million levs.” During the two months of voting for the Human of the Year Award “Spasi, dari na…” received more than 3 500 votes.

The prizes given at the ceremony are non-financial. The idea behind giving these awards is to distinguish and encourage, but also to provoke – thinking, talking and fighting for the cause of human rights in Bulgaria. The winner of the first prize was presented with a statuette and a certificate, and the other winners received plaques and certificates.

Ivo Indzhev, journalist, was awarded a certificate for most nominated person of the year. He was nominated fourteen times before and four times after the official deadline for submitting nominations.

This year everyone could nominate a person or an organisation on the basis of certain criteria. 22 nominations were admitted. In making the selection, the jury was looking for deeds with the potential to effect change that are unprecedented in the human rights sphere or are simply original and creative. The votes on the web-site for the Public Choice Award went beyond 15 500.

This event was made possible with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bulgaria.