Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) recently announced the winners of its 2017 BNB Scholarships Competition.

Andrian Yambolov and Dimitar Stanchev will receive support in their studies and research from the central bank.

The BNB scholarship program is now in its 13th year; it was created in 2004 to support masters and doctoral students researching topics related to central banking and foster interest in future careers with BNB. This year’s winners are both pursuing their masters degrees. Yambolov is studying at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn in Bonn, Germany, and Stanchev at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in Sofia, Bulgaria.

This year 23 candidates applied for the scholarship program, including three doctoral students and 20 master's students. Yambolov was the only applicant studying at a university outside of Bulgaria. The scholarship program’s Committee for Selection determined that three of the applicants did not meet the program’s criteria. The other 20 applicants were invited to submit essays on a set subject.

A panel of reviewers appointed by the committee reviewed each candidate’s essay, with two panel members reviewing every essay. Doctoral candidates’ essays were reviewed by panel members with Ph.D.s. The committee funneled down the applicant pool to three candidates based on their essays, and those three candidates were invited to interview for the scholarships, leading to the selection of Yambolov and Stanchev.

Over the program’s 13 years, 348 students have applied for the program, which has issued 30 scholarships.