Bulgarian National Bank issued the following announcement.

Within the framework of the annual competition for scholarship holders of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), the BNB Governing Council decided to award scholarships for 2020 to:

• Boyan Dafinov Kamenov - student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ", specialty" Law ";

• Mihail Emilov Dimitrov - student at the University of Economics - Varna, major in Corporate Finance;

• Maria-Magdalena Martinova Markova - student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ", specialty" Law ";

• Andrian Andreyanov Yambolov - PhD student at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.

On March 12, 2020, at the BNB, in the presence of the members of the Governing Board of the Bank, certificates of the winners of the BNB Fellowship Contest for 2020 were presented, subject to the measures taken at the BNB to limit the risks of COVID dissemination, 19.

The main objective of the BNB Fellowship Program is to assist undergraduate and doctoral students in developing topics related to the BNB's mandate and activities. The requirements for the candidates and the conditions of the BNB Scholarship Contest are available on the Central Bank's website here .

Documents for participation in the competition were submitted by a total of 23 candidates, of which 7 PhD students and 16 students studying for the degree of Master's degree. Two of the applicants are studying at universities abroad and 21 are studying at Bulgarian universities. After examining the submitted documents of the candidates, the BNB (Commission) Selection and Work Fellowship Committee allowed 21 candidates to participate in the competition procedure.

The first stage of the competition involved writing an essay on a predefined topic: for the masters students - The Future of Physical Money, and for doctoral students - The Changing Relationships between Central Banks and Governments. Applicants' essays were assigned to anonymously evaluate reviewers designated by the Commission. Each development was evaluated independently by two reviewers.

Having considered the applicant's papers, the essays, the reviews received and the evaluations of the reviewers placed on the candidates' essays, and after further discussion, the Commission decided to admit six candidates studying for a Master's degree program to be interviewed, and two PhD candidates. Everyone was invited to the interview. Applicants had the opportunity to present and substantiate their points of view, to define their areas of interest and to hold discussions with Commissioners.

On the basis of the documents submitted to the candidates, the essays, the reviews and evaluations received, as well as the interviews conducted, the Commissioners made a comprehensive assessment of the candidates' presentation. On a proposal from the Commission, the BNB Governing Council decided in 2020 to award three scholarships to undergraduate students and one to a doctoral candidate.

A total of 428 undergraduate and doctoral students have applied for the BNB Fellowships (since the establishment of the scholarship program in 2004) and 38 scholarships so far.

Original source can be found here.