"You realize what your homeland is when you lose it. When you're at home, you turn on the radio, hear folk music, speak Bulgarian, and go to the theater where you also hear Bulgarian speech. It is only when you lose all that that you realize how much you miss it", says Radoslava Nedyalkova, founder of the folklore group "Nashentsi" in Milan. She won the annual award ''Bulgarian Woman of the Year -2023'' named after St Zlata of Meglen.

The award was presented for the 12th time by the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad and recognizes compatriots who promote Bulgarian culture, language and traditions, with their activities extending beyond a single country. In this way, the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad highlights the efforts of those Bulgarian women who have successfully adapted to a foreign country, manage to keep the Bulgarian spirit high and unite our migrant communities.

Twenty-four women from 19 countries were nominated for the award ''Bulgarian Woman of the Year- 2023'', including educators, leaders of folk ensembles, founders of libraries and cultural societies. Posthumous awards were presented to Galina Todorova from the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Prague and Ganna Besarabska-Tavriyska who dedicated her entire life to preserving everything Bulgarian within our communities in Ukraine and Moldova.

The Agency for Bulgarians Abroad honored Nevenka Kostadinova from Bosilegrad with the inaugural Audience Award. This distinction was given to Nevenka Kostadinova for her tireless efforts to preserve the Bulgarian community in the small town of Bosilegrad. Together with her family, she provides employment for over 100 people in her carpenter's workshop.

''I was destined to be born outside the borders of Bulgaria. When you are away from your homeland, everything Bulgarian becomes much dearer and more precious to you. My mission, and that of my family, is to give people the opportunity to stay, not to flee from their hometown. To stay in their ancestral home, because in my opinion there is nothing better than that!"

The new recipient of the Bulgarian Woman of the Year Award, Radoslava Nedyalkova, received a hand-painted icon of St. Zlata of Meglen, created by icon-painter Antonia Yankova. The ceremony took place on October 18—the day designated by the church to honor St. Zlata of Meglen, regarded as patron saint of Bulgarians living abroad. 

"The icon of St. Zlata Meglen will travel thousands of kilometers, carrying a piece of the feeling that distance does not change the sense of belonging, Bulgarian identity and self-awareness of our compatriots living abroad", Vice President Iliyana Iotova said in her congratulatory address to the participants.

"I didn’t expect that I would receive such a significant award", Radoslava Nedyalkova told Radio Bulgaria and added:

''It's a huge responsibility to receive this award. It will give me the strength for everything I do, so I can keep doing it with even more enthusiasm. Folklore groups are at the heart of Bulgarian communities around the world. We go to the Bulgarian church there and then look for a dance group. We look for our environment when we are abroad. We need to feel Bulgaria, and this is best achieved through folk dances and compatriots who are there to talk about our homeland and make martenitsas together. Our groups are the at the heart of these communities. That’s why it’s very easy for us to connect and keep in touch. The first contacts were made in 2016, when we started talking about our association. It has been working for several years now, but back then it was just a dream for many of us- to unite, to be together and share our problems, because the things we do abroad have a lot in common''.