"Bulgarian self-awareness and identity are transmitted through language," Vice President Iliana Iotova said at the opening of the seventh edition of the inter-school Bulgarian language reading competition "Az, Buki, Vedi" for first and second grade students in Northern Ireland. 

Mrs. Iotova was invited as special guest at the event by the "Ivan Vazov" First Bulgarian School in Armagh, Northern Ireland, BTA reported. "You are the ones who teach children about Bulgarian traditions and everything that makes us a nation with an ancient history, you teach them to be true patriots from a very young age," Iotova said in her address to the teachers.

This year's edition of the Inter-School Bulgarian Language Reading Competition for students abroad is organized by the Bulgarian Cultural and Educational Association and the First Bulgarian School "Ivan Vazov" in Armagh, with the assistance of the initiators from the Bulgarian Sunday School "Az, Buki, Vedi" in Cologne, Germany, under the patronage of Marin Raykov, Ambassador of Bulgaria to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Students from the 1st and 2nd grades of 24 Bulgarian Sunday Schools from 9 countries participated in the competition.