Hollywood actor Jon Voight has been bestowed with the Special Award of ‎the Consul of Bulgaria in the USA during the ceremony where the ‎awards for education, science, art and culture of the BgFACE ‎Foundation were handed out. As the awards are presented in the heart ‎of Hollywood, the Bulgarian Consul General in Los Angeles, Boyko ‎Hristov, singles out personalities from the world of the film industry ‎who have filmed in Bulgaria and are connected to Bulgarian culture. ‎

In the Education category, a prize was awarded to the First Bulgarian School "Vasil Levski" in Las Vegas. This year's award in the Art category ‎went to composer Milen Kirov. In the field of science, Bulgarian inventor ‎Ivan Tashev was distinguished, and in the field of culture - Sonya ‎Kirova, founder and president of the Bulgarian cultural center "Ripni ‎Kalinke" in San Hose, California.‎

The certificate "Friend of Bulgaria abroad" was awarded to the ‎American ethnographer Martin Koenig - he contributed to the fact that ‎the magical voice of Bulgarian folk singer Valya Balkanska and the ‎Rhodope folk song "Izlel e Delyu haidutin" flew into space onboard ‎the Voyager 1 shuttle.‎

Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel was a special ‎guest at the celebration ceremony in Los Angeles on November 1, ‎National Awakeners Day. Meetings with our compatriots on the US ‎West Coast were part of the working visit of the Deputy Prime ‎Minister. Before the ceremony, she met with the mayor of Los Angeles, ‎Karen Bass, with whom they also discussed the possibility of placing a ‎monument to the Bulgarian alphabet in Los Angeles - an idea that our ‎compatriots there have been working on for a long time.‎

‎"I am happy that on such a special day I can share such a special ‎moment - the second BGface awards for art, culture, science and ‎education. These are four words with which I want Bulgaria to be ‎associated”, said Mariya Gabriel in an interview for Radio Bulgaria “I ‎am glad that I have the opportunity together with the Bulgarian ‎community here to voice recognition to these Bulgarians who are also ‎American citizens and have contributed, through art, culture, science ‎and education, to building partnership relations with the USA and to ‎being stronger as a community. In all my meetings - from the one with ‎the mayor of Los Angeles, to the meetings with business delegations ‎and large scientific research bodies and think tanks - I bring to the fore ‎the fact that Bulgaria is with the clear ambition to be a regional ‎innovation hub, because we have our strengths - the IT sector is ‎extremely dynamically developing, with many qualified smart young ‎talents. On the other hand, Bulgaria is a factor of stability and ‎development in Southeast Europe." ‎

"I felt that our hearts are beating for Bulgaria. Thank you for making ‎my heart skip a few beats..." - this is how the Bulgarian foreign minister ‎addressed our compatriots on the US West Coast and highlighted some ‎aspects of his conversations with Bulgarians in America:‎

‎"It is very important that there is a constant flow of information about ‎the possibilities of support from Bulgaria, but also that Bulgaria gives ‎the due credit and more visibility to those who have succeeded outside ‎of its borders. Because they carry Bulgaria in their hearts and that is very visible. ‎In addition, the desire for Bulgaria to have its own new brand makes a ‎very pleasant impression, i.e. to show that our country is really a place ‎for talents, a place for art, culture, for successful people who know ‎how to do business, how to respond to the challenges, they know ‎that Bulgaria-USA relations are relations not only between allies and ‎strategic partners, but between friends. Today's message is extremely ‎strong in this direction."‎

Let's not forget where we came from and promote Bulgarian culture - ‎with these words lawyer Ognyan Gavrilov summarized the mission of the BGface ‎Foundation, which leads and unites many Bulgarian organizations on ‎the US West Coast.

The lawyer with a successful practice in Sacramento ‎also grants a scholarship for Bulgarian law students. Recently, the ‎prominent Bulgarian is the honorary consul of Bulgaria for Northern ‎California:‎

‎"This is a great honor. It doesn't happen often that Bulgaria ‎appoints its own citizen as an honorary consul, they usually elect ‎Americans for this purpose. I feel grateful that Bulgaria has chosen me", says Ognyan Gavrilov on this occasion, sharing his expectations related ‎to his homeland: "I hope that Bulgaria will develop in a good direction ‎‎- we have the prerequisites - people, education, culture. We must muster our strengths and do it, our politicians must help in this direction. Maybe ‎I'm biased, but I think when the legal system gets fixed, so does ‎the business sector."‎

Interviews and photos: Maria Samichkova, contributor for Radio Bulgaria in the USA 

Editing by Elena Karkalanova