Digital Stars: the competition that recognises young talent in digital marketing
Contents · 8 sections
When we created Digital Stars in 2019, the goal was simple: a competition that encourages and recognises young specialists in digital marketing. I had seen a similar format in the hotel industry and felt our industry was missing something like it. Talented young people run great campaigns, but rarely does anyone outside their team notice.
Over six editions the competition recognised dozens of young professionals and became a tradition in Plovdiv. In this article I have brought together the story of all editions, which used to be covered in separate posts on the blog.
How does the competition work?
- Taking part is free.
- Young people up to 35 (from 2021, from the age of 16) with up to 5 years of experience in digital marketing can apply.
- Each participant presents a real project or campaign as a case study: client, goals, approach and results. They can also be nominated by a colleague or employer.
- There are 10 categories: paid advertising, social media, SEO, content, video, creative, e-commerce, strategy and business development, digital PR and influencer marketing, and email marketing, automation and AI.
- Each category is judged by three established professionals, and the jury is about 30 people every year.
- The prize is a statuette and recognition from the professional community. If a category has no strong enough entries, no award is given.
2019: the first edition
We organised the first edition with Internet Media Group. Applications were open until 27 October 2019, and the awards were presented at a gala evening in Plovdiv. Six young specialists were recognised: Georgi Georgiev (content), Iliyana Dadarova (social media), Manuela Popova (creative), Nikoleta Miteva (digital PR), Dobromir Genov (strategy) and Viktor Stoilov.
2020: the second edition
In 2020 the competition was organised by the Digital 4 Foundation, and the jury grew to 30 people. The ceremony was held at the Congress Centre of the International Fair Plovdiv during the Digital4Plovdiv conference. That year we recognised 10 young professionals, one in each category, including Ivaylo Todorov (paid advertising), Viktoria Georgieva (social media), Dimitar Karamarinov (SEO), Vasilena Vasileva (content), Kristin Todorova (strategy), Mihail Atanasov (automation and email), Ivana Dimitrova (digital PR), Vera Pitseva (creative) and Blagovest Kamenov (e-commerce).
2021: the third edition
For the third edition the minimum age was lowered to 16, and projects had to be from the last two years. Because of the pandemic measures we extended the deadline to 26 September, and the ceremony took place on 18 November 2021 in Plovdiv, during Digital4Plovdiv. The winners were Martin Varshev (paid advertising), Stanislav Slavev (creative), Velichka Yovova (e-commerce), Kristiana Dimitrova (video), Yanis Yakimov (digital PR) and Trayan Hristov (automation and email).
2022: the fourth edition
The fourth edition's ceremony took place on 20 September 2022 at the Boris Hristov House of Culture in Plovdiv, during DiTech Expo and Digital4Plovdiv, in front of more than 100 guests. I was especially happy that Viktor Stoilov, one of the 2019 winners, came back as a member of the jury.
The 2022 winners were Veronika Vasileva (paid advertising), Dayana Blagoeva (social media), Stanislav Slavev (content), Denitsa Nesheva (strategy), Rebeka Marinova (e-commerce) and Nadezhda Kaloferova (email marketing and automation). The edition's partners were IAB Bulgaria, BAET, eBay, Design Expert, Investor.bg, BNT, Media Cafe and Victoria Beauty.
2023: the fifth edition
We organised the fifth edition with Internet Media Group and EURODA, and added artificial intelligence to the email marketing and automation category. The awards were presented on 12 October 2023 in Plovdiv during Digital4Plovdiv. The winners were Stiliyana Dineva (content), Stefani Dushilova (SEO), Nadezhda Nikolaeva (paid advertising), Elena Chardaklieva (e-commerce), Betina Belcheva (strategy), Denitsa Nesheva-Tsenova (social media) and Antoniya Velikova (creative).
2024: the sixth edition
We organised and funded the sixth edition together with the SEOMAX team and Internet Media Group, with EURODA as co-organiser. The jury was again made up of 30 professionals, including Justin Toms, Angel Iskrev, Georgi Malchev, Biser Valov and Diana Arsova. I also talked about the competition as a guest on Radio Focus.
The ceremony took place on 17 October 2024 at the International Fair Plovdiv, as part of the two-day Digital4Plovdiv conference. I had the pleasure of opening it. For the first time in the competition's history one participant won two categories: Denislava Shishkova was recognised for both creative and strategy. The other winners were Denitsa Atanasova (e-commerce), Evgeniya Britsova (email marketing, automation and AI), Blagovest Petkov (paid advertising), Andoniya Karakitukova (SEO), Maria Stefanova (video), Semra Sabri (social media) and Emanuel Tonev (content).
What we achieved
Over six editions we gave 44 awards to young specialists from all over the country, and every year about 30 established professionals gave their time for free to judge the projects. Many of the winners now lead teams, work at big agencies or run their own businesses.
I always tell young people one thing: be brave. Do not wait until you are "good enough" to show your work. Thank you to all participants, the jury, the partners and my business partner Lyubomir Atanasov, without whom Digital Stars would not have been the same.
Petar Dyaksov
Entrepreneur, investor and managing partner at SEOMAX, with more than 15 years of experience in e-commerce and digital marketing. He builds businesses in technology and e-commerce, invests in companies and supports entrepreneurs. Speaker, trainer and mentor at dozens of conferences, seminars and entrepreneurship programmes.
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