International Right to Know Day in Bulgaria

The right of access to information is an important human right, necessary for the enjoyment of other human rights.

The right to information is essential for transparent and accountable government. The right of access to information makes possible the public involvement in formulating social policies and in the decision-making processes of governance

The right to information can only be effectively exercised and implemented on the basis of laws, regulating this right in accordance with international standards

28 September - Awards

Each year, on September 28 - International Right to Know Day - Access to information Programme, will present awards for freedom of information contribution in Bulgaria.

The purpose of these awards is to to encourage citizens, NGOs, journaluists to exercise their rights of information access, and to push governmental institutions to create conditions for exercising of the rights under the Access to Public Information Act.

There are still quite a few institutions, which do not fulfill their obligations under APIA and do not recognize the rights of information access. Access to Information Programme will also give negative awards to these institutions.

Every visitor of this page will be able to nominate citizens, NGOs, and institutions both for the positive and negative awards.

In September 2006 a committe, including renowned journalists and NGO leaders selected the winners, who received a honorary diploma and а statuette on the award ceremony .

All sstatuettes were made by Blagovest Apostolov, a Bulgarian sculptоr. Five "Golden key" awards (pictured above) are given to citizens, NGOs, journalists, and public institutions.

Two negative awards are also presented - a "Golden padlock" (pictured on the right) for an institution, which hinders freedom of information and a "Tied key" for the institution, which has issued the funniest or most absurd decision to withhold access to public information.