19th Right to Know Day Awards Ceremony to be Held in Bulgaria

The Access to Information Programme is preparing to hold the 19th Right to Know Day Awards Ceremony on September 28, 2021 in Bulgaria online.

 

28 September is the day when the Freedom of Information Advocates Network was established in 2002 at a litigation conference held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The AIP is one of the founders and active member of the FOIAnet and since then has been taking an active part in the FOIAnet initiatives, including the celebration of the Right to Know Day.

 

In 2015, UNESCO declared September 28th as the "International Day for Universal Access to Information". In 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution L.1, proclaiming 28 September as the International Day for Universal Access to Information.

 

The RKD Campaign in Bulgaria

 

The Right to Know Day is the strongest tool in the AIP campaign for encouraging the exercise of the right to information and pushing for enhanced government transparency and accountability.

 

Nominations in six categories are collected to be awarded with four positive and two anti-awards. 33 nominees are competing for the 2021 Right to Know Day Awards. Nominations were collected via the dedicated web site maintained by the AIP www.RightToKnowDay.net.

 

Each nomination is a unique access to information case. That is why the media interest is high and the coverage is wide. Winners are selected by a jury of renowned journalists and NGO representatives.

 

The Golden Key Award and anti-awards

 

For a second year, will hold the ceremony online on 28 September 2021, 15.00 Bulgarian time.

 

At the Right to Know Day Awards Ceremony on the 28 Sept., the AIP would present the “Golden Key” awards to citizens, journalists, and NGOs, who have actively exercised their right of access to information and public authorities with good transparency practices. Institutions with bad transparency practices receive the “Padlock” anti-award, while absurd practices are recognized with the “Tied Key” anti-award.

 

A post mortem “Golden Key” award is to be presented to the citizen Julian Cholakov. He is a founder of the Association for Optimization of Judiciary and Administration and has fought dozens of FOIA battles to reveal corruption and maladministration, to protect human rights, to enhance possibilities for civil participation. Julian’s civil stance and active work will remain as a paragon for followers and generations.

 

 

 

 

The 2021 Right to Know Day Campaign is run within the project Access to Information Forum, implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism.
The main objective of the Access to Information Forum project is to improve the transparency and accountability of public institutions. Click here to visit the project's webpage.