On 23 April 2026, the World Day of the Book, Copyright and Readers, the ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ National Endowment Fund awarded the winners in the National Competition for a Published Short Story in the name of Rashko Sugarev. The ceremony was held in the Prof. Vasil Gerov Hall for the twenty-eight time.
The competition is open to authors up to 35 years old. It was launched by NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ in 1998 in honour of writer Rashko Sugarev (1941–1995), a master of the short-story genre.
This year, jury members Deyan Enev, Theodora Dimova and Emil Tonev awarded the following short stories:
‘Dolphins’, by Evgeniya Dineva – First Prize (558.18 Euro);
‘Childhood’, by Rosen Karamfilov – Second Prize (434.14 Euro);
‘Whatever That Metal Sponge You Use to Scrub Pans Was Called’, by Maraya Milanova (310.10 Euro).
At the ceremony organised by the Fund, Bisera Yosifova, Executive Director of the NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’, presented certificates to the authors of the winning short stories, along with the Fund’s publication, ‘Love at Any Time’, a collection of previously awarded stories in the competition, and wished them future creative success.