Dear participants in the Fifth edition of the competition,
The awarding of the competition works awarded by the International Jury is in preparation. Their authors will receive original awards, which are in the process of being made by talented young Bulgarian sculptors-designers. The awards, accompanied by the Diploma, will be sent to the addresses of the authors, for which they will be informed in advance. The awarded works will be available for viewing on the competition website, which will be updated in the coming days. Additionally, another 49 competition works will be uploaded, which also received high marks from jury members.
September 15, 2022


An international 7-member jury (Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic) completed the evaluation of the works from the fifth edition of the competition. 51 works were awarded: 4 were ranked first, 15 second, 14 third, and 18 were nominated for promotion. No grand prize is awarded.
We thank the members of the jury for their correctness and precise work.
List of the awarded works and their authors
The official presentation of the results of the fifth edition of the competition and the awarding of the awarded authors is planned for September 2022 (the date will be announced additionally)
22 June 2022 ã.


The participation in the Fifth edition of the International Competition "Karst under protection - a gift for generations" has ended. Despite the alarming situation following the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, 145 entries were received from 252 authors from 9 countries. Their evaluation by the International Jury according to the announced 6 criteria is forthcoming. The final ranking will be known after June 12, 2022. The active Bulgarian participation in the fifth edition of the competition also made a pleasant impression: 76 works by 87 authors.
We thank all the participants in the competition and wish them success in the ranking.
We sincerely hope that the karst will continue to inspire them.

List of participants

May 10, 2022



The solemn ceremony, at which the results of the fourth edition of the competition will be announced and the winners in the different competition categories will be awarded, will be held on September 29, 2019 (Sunday) at 13:30 in “Prof. Marin Drinov ”hall in the Central building of BAS. The reawarding will be preceded by the presentation of the results of the international initiatives of the specialized educational strategy ProKARSTerra-Edu, of which the competition is part. The official opening of the exhibition of awarded works from the competition will be at 17:00 at the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
We are expecting you.
19 September 2019


AWARDED WORKS IN THE FOURTH EDITION OF THE COMPETITION "KARST UNDER PROTECTION - GIFT FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS"
And in 2019, most of the 204 contest entries received show originality and genuine, compelling emotionality. The International Jury again faced a difficult choice, especially when determining the favorites in the Competition categories.
After summarizing the assessments of each Jury member (according to the predefined 6 competition criteria), a total of 37 prizes were awarded (9 first, 12 second and 16 third ones), divided into 12 competition categories. Awards received participants from 11 countries: Bulgaria (20 awards), South Korea (5), Montenegro (3), Russia (2) and Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Belarus, Armenia and Indonesia (1 each).
In addition, 3 special prizes were awarded to works by kindergarten children (in Montenegro and Bulgaria) who participated outside the Competition regulation. At the decision of the Jury, the Grand Prize for original creative achievement was not awarded in the Fourth edition of the Competition. The first prize winners were invited as special guests of the First International Student Contest "Karst - the last white spot on the planet Earth" (4-9 August 2019, Teteven). Anet Koleva and Mira Dimitrova from Varna participated (first prize for Drawing for students up to the age of 12).
The ceremony of awarding of the winners was included in the Solemn session of the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Protected Karst Areas - Legislation, Tourism, Monitoring" (http://prokarstterra.bas.bg/forum2019).

The event will take place on September 29, 2019, in the afternoon, in the Great Hall of the Central Building of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia. It also includes the opening of an Exhibition of the awarded works. This exhibition will be published also on the Competition website after the forum. All participants awarded in the Fourth edition of the Competition will be invited to the ceremony.

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For the fourth time we have witnessed serious preparation and sincere enthusiasm for elaboration of the competition works. We would like to thank all contestants for their good performance and the compelling emotion in their works. We remain hopeful that whatever the results are, the authors will retain their interest in karst and its secrets, and karst will continue to inspire them.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all members of the International Jury for their responsibility and high professionalism in rating the competition works. Dear colleagues, it has been a great honor to work together with you!

On behalf of the Competition Organizing Committee: Petar Stefanov
August 23, 2019
List of the Awarded Participants of the Fourth edition of the Competition (2019)


The evaluation and ranking of the received works for the Fourth edition of the International Competition "Karst under protection - gift for the future generations" is over. An international 9-member jury (Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, and Japan) awarded first prize to 9 of the Competition's works. Their authors have already been informed and they have been invited as special guests to the First competition for students "Karst - the last white spot on planet Earth" (4-9 August, Teteven), as their costs will be covered by the prize pool of the Competition.
List of the first-ranked works and their authors
Official announcement of the Competition winners and awards will take place on 29 September 2019 in the Central Building of BAS in Sofia. An exhibition will be organized with the works awarded by the Jury, and their authors will be invited to the ceremony. At the end of August award winning works and a list of proposed for prize authors will be available on the Competition site.
July 7, 2019


The fourth edition of the International Competition "Karst under Protection – Gift for the future generations" was completed. We received 204 contest works by 256 authors from 14 countries. Their evaluation by the International Jury is pending. The final ranking will be known after June 30, 2019.
The laureates in the competition categories will be invited as special guests at the First international student competition "Karst - the last white spots on the planet Earth” (4-9 August 2019, Teteven). Their daily costs will be covered by the prize pool of the competition.
We would like to thank all the contestants for their worthy presentations. We wish them success in the ranking. We sincerely hope that karst will continue to inspire them.
List of participants
24 May 2019


In connection with the International competition for students "Karst - the last white spot on the planet Earth" and the date of the International scientific and practical conference "Protected Karst Territories - Legislation, Tourism, and Monitoring", the site has introduced updates in some of the deadlines of the karst competition.
February 26, 2019


In August 2019 Bulgaria will host the first International competition for students "Karst - the last white spot on the planet Earth". This is a new original initiative from the educational strategy of ProKARSTerra-Edu. The competition is organized by the Experimental Laboratory of Karstology at NIGGG-BAS with the support of UNESCO.
The winners of the 4th edition of the International karst competition will be given the opportunity to attend as special guests of the competition - their presence will be provided by the prize fund of the competition. For more information, please follow the competition website at: http://prokarstterra.bas.bg/sci-competition
January 21, 2019


At the end of 2018 the first works for the Fourth edition of the competition were received. The authors are from Indonesia. We wish them success in the ranking! We look forward to the next participants...
20 December 2018


Two-day National Workshop-Discussion "Innovative education through Karst" (23-24 June 2018) was held at NIGGG-BAS. It presented and discussed the initiatives of the educational strategy ProKARSTerra-Edu, developed by the Experimental Laboratory of Karstology. Especially for the participants in the foyer of NIGGG-BAS were arranged two expositions, one of them with winning works from the International competition "Karst under protection - gift for the generations". http://www.bas.bg/èíîâàòèâíî-îáðàçîâàíèå-÷ðåç-êàðñòà
June 25, 2018


At the invitation of the Vitosha Nature Park Directorate, the Experimental Laboratory of Karstology at NIGGG-BAS took part in the Children's Feast (June 1, 2018), organized at the Children's Eco-Station "Beli brezi". The exhibition "ProKARSTerra" was presented, in which special attention was given to the winning works from the International Competition "Karst under protection – Gift for the generations".
June 2, 2018


On May 15, 2017 Fourth edition of the International Competition "Karst under Defense - a Generation Gift" was announced. It will be held in the traditional 5 categories, as some of the competition rubrics have been updated and new ones have been added. The competition will be held within the framework of the next International Science and Practice Forum "Protected Kast Territories - Legislation, Tourism, and Monitoring" (ProKARSTerra`2019, Sofia). The deadline for participation in the competition is 14 April 2019. circular letter of invitation will be sent to many institutions and organizations in Bulgaria and around the World. For more information, please review the sections of this site and see for updates.
15.05.2017


On September 23, 2015, in the Grand Hall of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia, the results of the Third edition of the competition and the laureates were officially announced in a solemn atmosphere. The event was included in the program of the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Protected Karst Territories - Training and Education" and was also honored by the attendance of many international guests participating in the Forum.
After the awarding ceremony, an exhibition was opened with awarded entrees from the competition, hosted in the halls of the National Museum of Natural History - Sofia. Students of Prof. Yoshida Nakano from the University of Yamaguchi (Japan) also participated in the exhibition with their original art installation "Phantom in karst III".
The prizes for the third edition of the competition were provided by UNESCO (Participation in the Summer of Karst in Bulgaria, 22-31 July 2015) and Zlatna Panega cement plant “Titan Bulgaria” JSC (original statuettes with minerals and rock fragments). All award winners received also special diplomas.
The next, Fourth edition of the competition is scheduled for 2018/19 and will be a part of the program of an authoritative international scientific and applied forum: "Protected Karst Territories - Legislation, Tourism, Monitoring" (ProKARSTerra`2019, Sofia).
12.10.2015


It was held from 22 to 31 July 2015 in typical karst regions of North Bulgaria. It was attended by 23 award-winning authors and their mentors from the Third edition of the International Competition “Karst under protection – gift for the future generations”, including the new winners of the Grand Prix from Montenegro. The other winners were from Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Tatarstan and the Czech Republic. Along the journey 9 karst caves were visited, as well as a number of other natural and historical sites of national and international importance, situated in karst areas.
August 15, 2015


Winning works from the third edition of the competition "Karst under protection - gift for the future generations" are already known

In most of the competition-submitted works we observe sincere originality and compelling emotions. This made the work of the International 9-member Jury (Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Japan) very difficult. It was particularly so in determining the favorites in the different competition categories.

After summarizing the individual score of each jury member (on 6 pre-set criteria of the contest) 42 awards were laid in total (9 first, 16 second and 17 third awards), in 12 competition categories. Additionally, other 24 works were distinguished with Encouragement awards and they will be included in the exhibition of the competition and their authors will receive honorary diploma.

For the Grand Prix the Jury members nominated 6 competition works from 3 different categories. After processing the results and coordination with the Jury members, the Jury Prize in the Third edition of the Competition will be awarded to 17-year old high school students Dajana Motika-Raonic and Anja Pjesivac from Zabljak, Montenegro, for their project “Karst of Durmitor” (category “Work with natural materials”).

The official presentation of the competition results and the award ceremony are scheduled for September 23, 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria during the solemn Session of the International Scientific-practical conference "Protected karst territories - education and training". It also includes the opening of an exhibition of winning works, which after the Forum will be posted on the Competition site.

The winning authors of Grand Prize and the First Prize of the categories will receive an official invitation to participate in a Traveling Summer School of Karst (UNESCO), which will be held from 22 to 31 July 2015 in attractive karst regions in Bulgaria.
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For the third time we have witnessed serious preparation and sincere enthusiasm for elaboration of the competition works. We would like to thank all contestants for their good performance and the compelling emotion in their works. We remain hopeful that whatever the results are, the authors will retain their interest in karst and its secrets, and karst will continue to inspire them.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all members of the International Jury for their responsibility and high professionalism in rating the competition works. Dear colleagues, it has been a great honor to work together with you!

On behalf of the Competition Organizing Committee:
Petar Stefanov

June 12, 2015

The Third edition of the International competition ended

The Third edition of the International competition ended. A hundred sixty-one (161) authors from 7 countries participated: from Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Czech Republic and Japan. They presented 142 competitive works in total. After checking for compliance with the competition rules, the Organizing Committee submitted them to the attention of the International Jury for evaluation. Results and rating will be published on the Competition web sites on June 12, 2015. Winners of the Grand Prize and the First Prize of the Competition categories will receive official invitations to participate in the Traveling Summer School of Karst (UNESCO), which will be held from 22 to 31 July 2015 in attractive karst regions in Bulgaria.

We would like to thank all participants for their interest and their original impressive works. We wish them success in their rating!


In the Third Edition of the Competition we already have participants from:


Expect and your. Deadline: 30 April 2015


New prizes of the Competition

In the end of 2014 UNESCO informed us that the Bulgarian project “Travelling summer school of karst” within the Program 2014-2015 has been approved. According to this project, presented by NIGGG BAS, a part of the Traveling School participants will be the winners of the respective categories of the International competition “Karst under protection – gift for the future generations”. In this way, together with the winner of the Grand Prize all participants qualified for first prize of the competition categories will have the a chance to see unique karst objects in Bulgaria.

The traveling school will be held in the second half of July 2015 along a special trail, within 10 days. All costs incurred by the participants in Bulgaria will be covered by the organizers of the competition, who are also the authors of the UNESCO project.

Please expect further information

The first competition entries received

The first two competition entries have been received on 13 February from Rostov-on-Don (Russian Federation).

We are expecting your works: deadline: 30 April 2015