Less than a week remains until the deadline for registration for the "BAIT Awards" competition for 2018.

Up to this point, 34 registrations have been made in 9 categories of the "BAIT Awards" competition for 2018.

The competition is most fierce in the Journalistic Contribution category, where six journalists have already submitted their materials on the IT sector. There are 4 nominations in the State Administration and Municipal Administration categories, where various projects compete, aiming to improve and modernize citizen services. The competition is also strong in the Startup Company and Innovative Company using cutting-edge ICT solutions categories.

On behalf of the Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies (BAIT), we extend an invitation to the educational institutions under your leadership, to your teachers, students, and pupils, to participate in the competition.

They have the opportunity to apply in two of the categories – Educational Award and Youth Award.

Among the candidates in these categories are:

• platform for digital management of school institutions, as well as the newly established programming high school in Burgas.
• IT projectand , developed by students and a pupil

Educational Award aims to recognize individuals/teams creating talent for the ICT industry and/or innovations in education, within 2018. The category is open to private and state educational institutions and initiatives.

The winners so far in this category have been: 2017 - Ministry of Education and Science for the Educational platform "YOUR HOUR", 2016 - Software University EOOD, 2015 – Vratsa Software Society, 2014 - Software University EOOD; 2013 – Уча.се; 2012 – Teleric Academy; 2011 – NIMERO EOOD.

In the category Youth Award students and pupils can participate, individually or in a team, who are studying at a Bulgarian educational institution and have implemented a project in the field of ICT, within 2018.

The winners so far in the category are: 2017 - Iliyan Kordov /pupil/, 2016 – Zvezdin Besarabov /pupil/, 2015 – ICT Club with the project "Smart Glove" – Valkyrie, 2014 - Ivan Atanasov from the University of Library Science and Information Technologies; 2013 – a team from MGU and Desislav Kuzmanov from TU Sofia; 2012 – Denislav Lefterov from PU and Zdravko Velinov from TU Sofia; 2011 – a team from MGU.

By tradition, the campaign and the award ceremony for the winners are held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev.

This year will be awarded awards in 11 categories: Educational Award, Youth Award, Journalist Award, State Administration, Municipal Administration, Start Up company, Successful Bulgarian ICT product, Significant corporate ICT project, Innovator company in the use of cutting-edge ICT solutions, Company with the greatest contribution to promoting the image of the Bulgarian ICT industry worldwide and Award for special contribution.

The winners in each category will receive a voucher from Siela Norma, for which they can buy books in Siela bookstores. As an official partner of BAITS, SuperHosting.BG will provide to the winner in each category, hosting and domain for one year. Subject awards for the winners are also provided by Solitron Bulgaria, also a partner of the competition. Each awardee will receive one of the listed awards - a Lenovo tablet, an ACER LED monitor, or a Xiaomi smartwatch. 

The awards will be presented at an official ceremony in February 2019. The date and venue will be announced separately.

Registration deadline for participation: until 24:00 on January 14, 2019.

The registration form and the competition regulations are published on the Awards website.

The competition and the award ceremony for the "BAIT Awards" for 2018 are held with the support of:

Gold Sponsor: A1 Bulgaria

Silver Sponsors: DATEX, B-trust Electronic Signature, UniCredit Bulbank, Superhosting.bg and Polycomp

Bronze Sponsors: Siela Norma, Industrial and Logistics Park - Burgas, Solitron Bulgaria and Sofia Airport Center

In partnership with: BTA, BNR, BNT, TechNews, ICT Media, Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises, National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, Eleven, bgENTREPRENEUR, b2b Media, Sofia Tech Park, National Center for Safe Internet, Innovation Starter, Junior Achievement Bulgaria, EventsMedia.bg, LauncHub Ventures, Smart News, NewBusiness.bg, Pixel Media and Bulgarian Startup Association