Bulgaria named a street after an organ donor and reignited a stalled debate

Bulgaria has the lowest organ donation rate in the European Union: around 13 donor situations a year while nearly a thousand people wait for a life-saving transplant. Public awareness is low, the topic is rarely discussed, and family consent is often withheld out of fear and uncertainty — a silence deepened after the National Transplantation Agency closed.

The Documentalists Foundation, a civic-journalism NGO, and agency Noble Graphics found a loophole in Bulgarian law: streets can only be named after deceased heroes. They told the story of Georgi Nikolov, a 21-year-old donor whose organs saved four lives, and in 2023 his hometown of Varna inaugurated Georgi Nikolov Street — the first street in the world named after an organ donor.

The simple symbolic act did what decades of health communication could not: it made organ donation a front-page civic story. The campaign was featured in more than 150 media outlets, generated roughly €500,000 in earned media from a budget of about €50, and drew more than 7,000 visits to the foundation's website in three months — more than double the target.

The conversation did not stop at awareness. The campaign contributed to the re-establishment of the National Transplantation Agency, inspired three more street-naming initiatives across Bulgaria, and laid plans for ten donor streets in Sofia — a model the Effie Europe jury called simple, effective and scalable.

Make a donor a civic hero, not a statistic

Naming a street after a donor grants the cause the highest civic honor.

The symbolism was inherently newsworthy, so coverage came without paid media.

Law-abiding reverence made the act unassailable rather than provocative.

Institutional change gave the story a durable outcome beyond the campaign.

When a subject is silenced by taboo or neglect, change the frame: grant it the society's highest symbolic honor, and the honor itself becomes news, legitimacy and leverage for institutional change.

ADC Europe awarded the work Bronze in 2024; Golden Drum shortlisted it; Effie Awards Europe gave it Bronze in 2025, citing €500,000 in earned media against a €50 budget. Inspired by the model, organizers planned donor streets in Sofia and other towns, and Bulgaria's transplant system regained an institution after the agency's closure.