The award ceremony of the 1st Student Competition for the Communication Campaign for Responsible Alcohol Consumption took place on 14 June 2023 in Sofia. This was the end of a process that started in January 2023 when the New Bulgarian University in Sofia agreed to launch a competition among students with the support of spiritsBULGARIA. Students were tasked with designing communication campaigns that would raise awareness among their peers about the dangers of alcohol misuse and abuse, share tips and tricks to promote responsible consumption and resist peer pressure. The Department of Fine Arts, in the person of Assoc. Dr Kalina Christova and her students, participated in the competition. At the beginning of the competition there was an information session where students reflected on the effects of alcohol on the human body, social norms, learning how to control consumption by measuring alcohol units, etc. The creative process lasted just over two months and the participants worked hard to get the message across: "CONSUME RESPONSIBLY!" in the language of the young generation in Bulgaria.
The projects were judged by a competent and fair jury composed of professors and professionals in the field of communication and production:
The following prizes were awarded:
The students who took part in the campaign were extremely positive:
"A big thank you to the organisers for the wonderful opportunity, as this is in a way a real campaign and it is important for every student to take part in one, facing the competition and the topic of the brief. We had enormous freedom to create in the direction and style we wanted, and this is exactly the kind of experience students need, as most of them have not worked with real clients and briefs up to this point" said Mimi Delcheva.
"The theme of the competition is timely and interesting, as well as extremely important for our health and safety, whether we drink 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 that today's young people are more and more interested and want to be informed about different topics for which they have to show responsibility" said Ivana Dimova.
Already in September 2023, the QR code leading to the “Alcalculator” was used in the campaign fighting drink-driving during the road safety days organised by RoadPol in Bulgaria!
