Balgarianovinite.com The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and the non-profit Harlequin Association will sign a partnership agreement on Friday at 12 pm at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia. The agreement will be signed by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and Rositsa Zhablyanova, Chair of the Association’s Board of Directors.
The Harlequin Association was registered on December 18 2009 in Sofia. It organizes the Harlequin International Children and Youth Media Art Festival, which will celebrate its 15th edition this year. The festival will take place from June 30 to July 2 at the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia.
The festival’s main objectives are to encourage young people’s imagination and creativity through the production of original media content using digital technologies, expand participants’ knowledge of media production; provide an international platform for showcasing work and exchanging ideas with established professionals from the media industry, promote youth-created media projects, and support participants’ future professional development.
Participants will be evaluated in the following categories: film and television; radio and podcasting; animation; digital arts; photography; and a competition featuring performances of songs from popular films and musicals.
A key focus of this year’s competition is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the creation of media and film projects by young people. Participants are encouraged to experiment independently and incorporate generative AI into their film and digital productions.
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Harlequin Festival officially began in the spring of 2025. During the festival’s 14th edition, the organizers introduced the first AI-powered press centre of its kind. A virtual presenter named Theo welcomed participants and hosted the official news coverage of the festival’s Easter concert.
The second AI-based initiative is the Harlequin Ranking program (2025–2026). Harlequin became the first festival in Europe to implement the specialized Harlequin Ranking software, which provides vocal performance evaluations without human intervention.
Over the years, Harlequin has significantly expanded its international reach. In 2017, the festival brought together 813 children from 13 countries, while in 2018 participants came from 18 countries across several continents, including teams from Brazil, Portugal, Russia, Georgia, and Estonia. To date, the festival has involved more than 11,000 young people aged 8 to 29 from over 21 countries and 100 Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad, who have submitted more than 1,800 original projects.
The festival attracts participants from Bulgaria, Italy, Ukraine, Serbia, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Portugal, Georgia, Estonia, Austria, Moldova, Romania, Cyprus, and many other countries.
Throughout its history, the festival has primarily been held in Bulgaria. In 2021 and 2022, however, special international editions were organized in Rome, Italy, bringing together students from Italian schools as well as Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad. Bulgarian News Agency, Harlequin Association to Sign Partnership Agreement 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-06-26 05:12:02 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
