Book

My Story

The idea to launch the “My Story” contest was inspired by a deeply emotional story shared by a parent in ALA’s support group. Their experience sparked a wave of reactions and empathy among the other members of the community.

This led, in March 2015, to the idea of organizing a contest for the most moving, most interesting, and best-written personal story related to a child with a facial anomaly. The winners would be selected based on the number of likes their stories received on ALA’s Facebook page.

The ALA Board of Directors discussed what the prize should be and decided that, for a first attempt, it would be appropriate to offer a monetary award. We announced a prize of 2,000 BGN. We were immediately concerned that this amount was quite large for ALA — we are not a wealthy association — but we wanted it to be truly motivating, so we stood by our decision. By the end of this booklet, you will find out what happened. Enjoy the reading — and have some tissues ready.

We sincerely thank everyone who shared their story, as well as all the organizations that have supported ALA and children with facial anomalies over the years — Smile Train, EKO, Resurgence, and the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme.