On June 14, 2023, the first student competition for visual communication of responsible alcohol consumption has been completed. The competition was organized by spiritsBULGARIA with the assistance of the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. The goal of the initiative was to raise awareness of the topic among young people, establish moral resistance to peers’ suggestions and reduce potentially harmful habits. The Department of Fine Arts, in the person of Assoc. Dr. Kalina Christova and her students gave a hand in this endeavor. At the start of the project, students attended an educational seminars to learn about alcohol, the effects on the human body, social norming, moderation, learning on low-risk drinking guidelines and how to measure up. The creative process lasted a little more than two months, and the participants tried extremely hard to convey the message: “CONSUME RESPONSIBLY!” in the language of the young generation in Bulgaria.
The projects were evaluated by a competent and fair jury composed of: Assoc. Dr. Iliya Kozhuharov from the Department of Cinema, Advertising and Show Business; Assoc. Professor Dr. Damian Damyanov from the Department of Fine Arts; Dr. Hristo Chukurliev from the Department of Foreign Languages and Communications; Eli Gerganova - Chairman of the National Council for Self-regulation, Iva Mihova-Mitrovska - Member of spiritsBULGARIA’s Board of Directors of and Head of Regulatory Affairs and Public Communications at Coca-Cola HBC Bulgaria; Ralica Skorcheva-Slavova, spiritsBULGARIA’s Chairman and Owner of Maxim Bulgaria EOOD and Gergana Gevezova-Koleva – Executive Secretary.
At the Award Ceremony, the jury announced the winners:
The feed-back of students having participated in the project is very positive.
"A great thank to the organizers for the wonderful opportunity, as this to some extent is a real campaign and it is important for each student to participate in such a one, facing the rivals and the topic of the assignment. We had an enormous freedom to create in the direction and style we wanted, and this is exactly the kind of experience students need, because the majority of them have not been working with real clients and briefs by that moment," said Mimi Delcheva.
“The theme of the contest is contemporary and interesting, as well as extremely important for our health and safety, regardless of whether we consume alcohol or not, whether we drive or not. We can all be victims of excessive drinking and there is always something to learn. I think today’s young people are more and more interested and want to be informed about various topics for which they must show responsibility," added Ivana Dimova.
spiritsBULGARIA will continue with this peer-to-peer approach and is looking to enroll more universities and students to working on new campaigns to help reduce alcohol related-harm.
