Nearly 150 children from all over the country applied with their original projects on programming, design, entrepreneurship and financial literacy

For the second year in a row, the high school for digital skills and admission after 7th grade SoftUni BUDITEL organized the national competition SoftUniada Teens. This year’s edition is realized in partnership with the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria. It gives all young talents in the country from 5th to 7th grade, regardless of their experience and location, an opportunity and equal chance to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in four separate categories – Programming and Scratch, Design, Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy.

The competition attracted strong interest from students and their teachers from different parts of the country and received nearly 150 applications, double the number of last year. Of these, 53 were admitted to the final of the competition, held last weekend (15 and 16 March) at the high school building in Druzhba. Talented children from all over Bulgaria, accompanied by their families and teachers, presented and defended their ideas and projects live in front of a special 3-member jury (15 March). The jury was made up of active and established experts in the field of each category presented, teachers and students from SoftUni BUDITEL High School, parents of high school students. They had the complex task of selecting the authors of the three best projects in each category, reaching the final decision late Saturday afternoon after in-depth discussions.

During the official ceremony (16 March), the big winners of the competition were announced and awarded with prizes, and all other participants were rewarded for their efforts with a diploma and gifts from SoftUni BUDITEL High School. The authors of the best projects had the opportunity to briefly present their ideas to the audience. The students impressed the full room with their talent, creativity, bold ideas and commitment to various social causes.

The proposal of the sixth grader from Dimitrovgrad Zhoro Topalov, who won the second place in the category “Design”, with his drawn superhero, which aims to promote among children the irreplaceable role of bees in nature and the need for their conservation, was applauded. Seventh grader Nina Kolenicheva from Sofia and winner in the Entrepreneurship category thrilled the audience with her idea for an online store “Swords for Heroes”, where she will offer handmade swords for charity to support sick children to give them strength and courage.

Among the most interesting and creative projects in this year’s edition of SoftUniada Teens was that of the students Tsveta Hristova and Plamena Nedelcheva from the Shumen school “Panayotov Volov”. Although they were not ranked among the first places, the seventh graders confidently and passionately defended their already developed idea for an alternative to polluting plastic bags, based on biodegradable materials created from algae. The girls addressed the audience with the message of more awareness and care for the environment.

“The goal of SoftUniada Teens is not just to award the best projects prepared for the competition, but to give children from all over the country a chance to show their skills, talent and most of all their amazing and inspiring ideas that can be turned into real, actionable and very meaningful projects that improve our lives” – said Olga Ninova-Trayanova, Director of SoftUni BUDITEL High School. She added that the school team will monitor and support the development of the children’s projects after the competition.

Here are the winners in the 4 categories:

Programming and Scratch:

1st place – Georgi Momchilov – 6th grade, “Acad. Lyubomir Chakalov”, Sofia
2nd place – Stelijana Koprinkova, 7th grade, 107 Khan Krum Primary School, Sofia
3rd place – Yavor Nikolov, 7th grade, Thomas Edison School, Sofia

Design:

1st place – Nia Mironova, 7. Class, NPMG “Acad. Lyubomir Chakalov”, Sofia
2nd place – Zhoro Topalov, 6th grade, “Pencho Slaveykov” Primary School, Dimitrovgrad
3rd place – Peter Gerasimov, 7th grade, Britanica Park School, Sofia

Entrepreneurship:

1st place – Nina Kolenicheva, 7. Class, CSU “Science for Children”, Sofia
2nd place – Venislav Ivchev, 7th grade, 10th Primary School “Aleko Konstantinov”, Pernik
3rd place – Viktoria Staneva, 5th grade, 19th secondary school “Elin Pelin”, Sofia

Financial literacy:

1st place – Nikol Buncheva, 5th grade, 68 “Acad, Nikola Obreshkov” Secondary School, Sofia
2nd place – Martina Ivanova, 7th grade, 132 “Vanya Voynova” Secondary School, Sofia

The SoftUni BUDITEL High School team would like to thank all the students for their participation and inspiring ideas, as well as the jury members who objectively, willingly and dedicatedly evaluated each project!

CWBB is the main partner of the national competition SoftUniade Teens 2025, organized by SoftUni BUDITEL High School.