Elena Dikova is the big winner of the photo contest entitled My Apollonia, which has been collecting photos throughout the whole August with snapshots of unforgettable memories from the various editions of Apollonia Festival of Arts from their very beginning in 1984 till present days. The contest was a joint initiative of Apollonia Foundation and United Bulgarian Bank (UBB). Elena Dikova’s photo takes us back to Y2008 Apollonia and shows the street theater of Les Grooms brass-band, that walked along the streets of Sozopol and ended their unique performance in the sea. This photo received the largest number of votes -342, on Apollonia’s Facebook page. The second and third place went to photos by Emil Dzhumayliev that had captured the performances by, respectively –the kaval virtuoso Theodosii Spasov (second place with 113 votes), and the pleasant girls from Sentimental Swingers (third place with 94 votes). Elena Dikova received a special diploma, a pass for Apollonia 2012’s thorough event program and a financial reward from UBB amounting to BGN 300. Emil Dzhumayliev received a pass for Apollonia 2012’s most interesting events. 37 photos participated in the My Apollonia contest, which collected a total of 1460 votes.

 

At a special press conference today the organizers from Apollonia Foundation announced also the winner of the Apollo Toxophoros prize for Y2012 –the opera singer Alexandrina Pendachanska. She is the 13^th winner of the prize, and the first one is Lyudmil Angelov (piano), who together with Pendachanska, tonight is to officially open Apollonia 2012. UBB`s special honor will also be granted to the famous and favourite pop singer Beloslava, who have become one of the icons of the contemporary Bulgarian music over the last two decades. “The choice for UBB’s prize was a hard one since Apollonia 2012’s program features many and interesting artists. Beloslava has won us over with the fact she’s an amazing young performer with quite an extensive repertoire”, Anka Kostova, Manager of UBB PR and Sponsorship Unit, said. “We’re delighted that UBB’s partnership with Apollonia has been successfully going on for more than 18 years –almost since the very beginning of the bank itself, 20 years ago”, she added.