Bulgarian Project with ESI International Award

Bulgarian project Authentic Bulgaria grabbed the International ESI Award for Excellence in the Promotion of the Information Society 2009 “For bridging the Digital Gap among SMEs” category. Alexander Babinov, manager of this USAID supported project, received the glass statuette on a special ceremony on Thursday night in Hotel Sheraton in Bilbao. Authentic Bulgaria is a Quality Mark system evaluating small and unique hotels. It aims to distinguish the best places for cultural, eco and village tourism. 

The other two winning projects in categories "For bridging the Digital Gap among Citizens" and "Most innovative and creative project are from Kenya (ushahidi) meaning “testimony” in Suahili,  and from Spain (CTIC foundation). 

The Jury received 32 applications from 13 countries among which Kenya, Bangladesh, India, Brazil, USA, Spain, Bulgaria. The 12 honorable Jury members presenting different companies and countries have assessed the projects taking into account several main factors:

• Commitment to continuously Bridging the Digital Gap;
• Objective evidence of achievement and/or impact, both in terms of number of users as well as the effect on each of them or the global effect; 
• Originality of the proposed solution and universality of application and future sustainability.

The International ESI Awards for Excellence in the Promotion of the Information Society 2009 ceremony was part of the ESI Week held from 1st till 5th of June, 2009, and recognize the efforts the organizations have made to reducing the Digital Gap and to reaching the Information Society for all.