Project of the Year Award for our Work on “Digital Children”

It is a great honor for us, as part of the Consortium that makes the existence of the National Safer Internet Center possible – together with the National Network for Children and the Parents Association, to receive the “Project of the Year” recognition from the Tulip Foundation.

The beautiful statuette, made by Georgi Chapkanov – Chapa, we received at a special ceremony on July 16, 2025 at the Sofia City Art Gallery for the project we are implementing together – “Digital Children”. The European Commission provides 50% of the funds for this project, in other countries the rest is provided by the state. In our country we have to find the additional funding. We are grateful to the British Council, which supported us so that we could supplement the budget requirements and carry out the activities for our part. The initiative continues until the end of the calendar year, and we are currently actively considering how to continue funding for this work that is so useful for our children.

The National Safer Internet Center (www.safenet.bg) maintains the Hotline for reporting harmful content and online crimes against children. The signals received from children and parents are processed and directed to the Cybercrime Directorate of the General Directorate of Child Protection, of which the Center is a trusted partner, as well as to the other Safer Internet Centers in the EU.

The NCBI also manages the Helpline 124 123 for children and parents, as well as a chat service.

In 2024, the Hotline received a record number of reports of abuse and online violence against children: 1,749,747! 63% of them were filed by parents, and 37% by children and teenagers. The online safety of our children is a commitment not only to the civil sector, but also to the state in the person of all institutions.

The best projects, including ours, were selected by a jury consisting of Snezhina Petrova, actress and head of the Theater Department of the New Bulgarian University; Tsvetanka Mincheva, CEO and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of UniCredit Bulbank; Kamelia Slaveykova, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Shell Bulgaria; Kin Stoyanov, Director of the Hristo Botev Program of the Bulgarian National Radio; and Svetlozar Zhelev, Director of the National Book Center. Thank you for the award! It is valuable to us and the work we do.