See the winners of the national competition Young Lions Bulgaria 2026

Vladimir Nikolov from agency Noble and Mira Naydenova from All Channels Group are winners of the national competition Young Lions Bulgaria 2026, category PR. The two young professionals impressed the jury with their project "Conspiracy for Good" – a proposal for an integrated PR campaign commissioned by Lidl Bulgaria, the main sponsor of the local stage of the prestigious international competition.

The jury of the competition, composed of established professionals with expertise from the agency, corporate, and media sectors, ranked second place for the project of the team Mario Goranov and Berk Karaahmed from agency Borba Edno. Third place was taken by the team of Ivan Minchev and Mira Mircheva from All Channels Group.

As winners of the national round, Vladimir Nikolov and Mira Naydenova will represent Bulgaria at the international final of Young Lions 2026, category PR, where they will compete with young talents from around the world. The final takes place during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – the largest global forum of the creative, marketing, and communication industry, which will be held in the period June 22 – 26, 2026 in Cannes, France.

The winners were determined by a jury consisting of: Alexander Durchev – president of ICCO for Europe and CEO of All Channels Group, Gergana Ivanova – co-founder and managing partner of The Smarts Group, Emma Kicheva – director of "Corporate Communications", Lidl Bulgaria, Iva Grigorova – PR business director, MSL Sofia, part of Publicis Groupe Bulgaria and chair of BAPRA, Katya Dimitrova – partner and founder of Interpartners Communications and chair of BAKA, and Milena Alexandrova – Deputy Creative Director, NOVA Broadcasting.

The category PR in Young Lions gathers young professionals up to 30 years old with the potential to become the next generation of communication leaders.

The competition Young Lions Bulgaria 2026 – PR is organized by The Bulgarian Association of Communication Agencies (BAKA) – the official representative of Cannes Lions for Bulgaria, in partnership with The Bulgarian Association of PR Agencies (BAPRA) and with the support of Lidl Bulgaria.

To prepare their projects, the participants had the opportunity to work with the catalog of Shutterstock – visual partner of Young Lions Bulgaria 2026.

More information about Young Lions Bulgaria 2026 is available on the BAKA website, and information about this year's edition of Cannes Lions – on the official festival website.

 

About BAPRA:

The Bulgarian Association of PR Agencies (BAPRA) aims to support and establish PR as an activity that works for the development of modern society. The association creates and maintains a platform for exchanging good practices, offers and upholds high ethical standards in the profession, and coordinates  efforts in the development of PR in Bulgaria.

BAPRA works to improve the partnership of the PR business in our country with the state and local authorities, academic circles, business, civil organizations, and the media. The association aims to establish standards for quality and ethics, ensuring through self-regulation the practice of transparent, honest, and socially responsible PR business in Bulgaria. BAPRA represents its members before Bulgarian, foreign, and international institutions and organizations and defends their rights and interests.