NSI awarded the winners from the National Phase of the European Statistics Competition (ESC) 2026. The representatives of Bulgaria in ESC were announced

Today, the winners of the Public Choice Award of the European Statistics Competition 2026 were announced. They will represent Bulgaria in the European phase of the prestigious statistical competition, organized under the auspices of Eurostat. In this additional phase of the National phase of the competition, the teams placed on the first nine positions in Category A, due to an equal number of points, and the first five in Category B took part. All of them earned the right to compete for a place in the European phase, for which they prepared and defended conceptual video projects on the topic ‘Statistical Portrait - What are the people in Bulgaria like?’

In Category A (students in grades X - XII) the winners were team ‘SVEFILVAN’ from the First English Language School, Sofia, and team ‘SASHADASHA’ from the National High School in Finance and Business, Sofia. In Category B (students in grades VII - IX) the winners were ‘MATHSGODS’ from the High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences ‘Vasil Levski’, Smolyan, and ‘FANTASTIK’ from the Vocational High School of Economics and Management, Pazardzhik. They will represent Bulgaria in the European phase of the ninth edition of the European Statistics Competition. The winners will be announced on June 5, and the award ceremony for the winners from all participating European countries will take place on June 25 at the National Library ‘St. St. Cyril and Methodius’ in Sofia.

In his welcome speech to the participants, the Deputy President of NSI and Chairman of the expert jury, Prof. Mihail Konchev, DSc, congratulated everyone for their efforts and for the way they have presented themselves so far: ‘For us, all of you here today are winners.’

‘This year, the competition was intense, which led to a precedent - for the first time, we have teams with an equal number of points in the ranking, so today there are nine teams in Category A. We would like to thank you for the excellent work of both you and your teachers-mentors, who devote their time and prepare you in the best possible way,’ said Prof. Konchev.

It has already become a tradition for twelfth graders who rank among the top places in the National Phase of the European Statistics Competition, to receive a grade of ‘excellent’ 6.00 on the entrance exam in economics at several universities in the country.

Ranking in the National phase of the European Statistics Competition 2025/2026:

Category A

1. Team ‘lazuni’, 51 Secondary School ‘Elisaveta Bagryana’, Sofia - 100 points
2. Team ‘SASHADASHA’, National High School in Finance and Business, Sofia - 97.78 points
3. Team ‘MAGDALENAX’, High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Kazanlak - 96.68 points

    Team ‘VKV 1312’, National High School of Commerce and Banking, Sofia - 96.68 points

Category B

1. Team ‘MATHSGODS’, High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences ‘Vasil Levski’, Smolyan - 97.78 points
2. Team ‘SMK – 2026’, Vocational High School of Economics ‘Ivan Iliev‘, Blagoevgrad - 94.78 points
3. Team ‘DATA_DUCKS’, Private Specialized High School, Veliko Tarnovo - 94.46 points.