Find out who won the “Mayor of the Year” 2020 awards in Bulgaria

Hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians participated in the vote to choose the best mayors

Today, 30 October 2020, at the official ceremony in Sofia Bulgaria's mayors were awarded in 8 categories. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the vote to choose the best mayors of Bugaria for 2020 - a very difficult year in every aspect. During the event's opening EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Marya Gabriel also took part, online.

The winners were chosen following an online contest. Users were invited to cast their votes on the website’s special platform and to make a statement by evaluating the work of mayors and their teams. An award was given to three mayors in each category – to mayors of small municipalities, medium municipalities and large municipalities, determined by their population sizes (small – with up to 20 thousand residents, medium – with up to 50 thousand and large with over 50 thousand).

And the winners are:

Category "Demographic policy and in vitro programs"

Small municipality – Nebi Bozov, mayor of Sarnitsa

Medium municipality – Ivaylo Simeonov, mayor of Elin Pelin

Large municipality –  dr. Hristo Grudev, mayor of Asenovgrad

Category "Urban environment"

Small municipality – Vasko Stoilkov, mayor of Slivnitsa

Medium municipality – Pavel Gudzherov, mayor of Rakovski

Large municipality – Zlatko Zhivkov, mayor of Montana

Category "Social measures during an epidemic"

Small municipality – Trayko Mladenov, mayor of Kostinbrod

Medium municipality – Dencho Boyadzhiev, mayor of Razgrad

Large municipality –  Dimitar Nikolov, mayor of Burgas

Category "Sport and youth policies"

Small municipality – Vladimir Dzhambazov, mayor of Dolna Banya

Medium municipality – Dr. Madlena Boyadzhieva-Nicheva, mayor of Teteven

Large municipality –  Ivan Portnih, mayor of Varna

Category "Smart City"

Small municipality – Diana Ovcharova, mayor of Ivaylovgrad

Medium municipality – Marinela Nikolova, mayor of Kozloduy

Large municipality –  Zdravko Dimitrov, mayor of Plovdiv

Category "Investments in educational infrastructure"

Small municipality – Tzvetanka Iotina, mayor of Mirkovo

Medium municipality – Kornelia Marinova, mayor of Lovech

Large municipality –  Daniel Panov, mayor of Veliko Tarnovo

Category "Mayor of the citizens"

Small municipality – Isa Besoolu, mayor of Pavlikeni

Medium municipality – Emanuil Manolov, mayor of Pavel banya

Large municipality –  Yordanka Fandakova, mayor of Sofia

Category "Mayor of the Year"

Small municipality – Svilen Shitov, mayor of Devnya

Medium municipality – Atanas Stoyanov, mayor of Sandanski

Large municipality –  Stanislav Vladimirov, mayor of Pernik

Mr. Boyan Tomov, founder of Kmeta.bg and TheMayor.eu thanked the mayors and their teams for the work and for all the good practices that have been implemented in the Bulgarian municipalities. Photo by kmeta.bg

Over the years, the competition "Mayor of the Year" has become an event important both for the citizens of Bulgaria and their mayors. It is a stage that gives recognition to the excellent and fruitful work of administrations as well as the initiatives that have been carried out at the municipal level.