28.04.2026
On 27 April 2026, the closing event of DisInfoHack 2026 took place at the GATE Institute at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. DisInfoHack 2026 is a “slow”, research-based hackathon on information resilience and countering disinformation. After a month of team work, participants presented their reports and findings to a jury, which evaluated the projects and announced the awarded entries.
DisInfoHack 2026 is an initiative organized by the team of the CoDE research project, focused on analysing Bulgaria’s information environment and developing sustainable approaches and a community for countering disinformation. The CoDE project is managed by the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and is implemented within a partner ecosystem involving university, scientific, public, civic and technology-sector organisations.
Participants and teams
This edition brought together 46 students, organised into seven teams: “AUBG – Blagoevgrad”, “Burgas, Nesebar and Karnobat”, “Veliko Tarnovo University – Veliko Tarnovo”, “Mix – Bulgaria and abroad”, “Plovdiv University”, “Security – Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy (Varna) and the Georgi S. Rakovski Military Academy (Sofia)”, and “Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’”, as well as a special team of the DisInfoHack 2025 winners.
Winner (1st place)
The winner of DisInfoHack 2026 (1st place) was the American University in Bulgaria team “Sixth Sense”, mentored by Bozhidar Angelov (PhD candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sofia University). The team worked on the topic: “Artificial Weapon: trends in the use of artificial intelligence as a tool for creating disinformation in military conflicts”.
Highlights from the speeches of guests and the jury
The event featured a series of short but substantive messages that outlined the broader meaning of the initiative—beyond the reports and awards themselves.
Sofia University Rector Prof. Georgi Valchev emphasised that the work on this topic is directly linked to young people’s ability to navigate “the era of fast information”:
“In an era of fast information, it is complex to live—and the skills you are developing here are extremely important: they foster critical thinking and shorten the distance between truthful information and disinformation”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nadezhda Neynski highlighted the democratic cost of disinformation and the role of critical thinking:
“In a world where information moves at the speed of a click, the truth sometimes falls behind. Disinformation is not fought only with technology, but with critical thinking, knowledge, and the courage to ask questions.”
Minister of Innovation and Growth Irena Mladenova stressed the value of the “slow” format as a process that produces sustainable outcomes and multiplies its impact: “This format matters precisely because it is not a one-day or 24-hour hackathon, but a process that builds critical thinking and responsibility for what we create and share. I hope what you have learned will multiply through you to your colleagues and friends”.
Minister of e-Government Georgi Sharkov placed the topic in the broader framework of hybrid threats and the need for operational approaches:
“The challenge is to turn campaign analysis into real-time work—situational awareness and early warning—which requires coordination among all stakeholders”.
On behalf of the hosts, Prof. Silvia Ilieva (GATE Institute) underlined the value of the ecosystem approach and the way the hackathon turns an “abstract threat” into concrete solutions and networks of collaboration:
“DisInfoHack turns the abstract threat of disinformation into solving real problems and building intellectual, technological and institutional capacity. Most importantly, participants create a network and an ecosystem by working with different specialists and institutions”.
The Chair of the jury, Prof. Neli Ognianova, framed the initiative’s central focus as a long-term societal task—not only reacting to “fake news”, but building information culture:
“The long-term goal is not only countering disinformation, but raising information culture: recognising quality information and quality sources, and being able to create quality information”.
As the lead of DisInfoHack 2026, Senior Assistant Professor Maria Yurukova, PhD (Department of European Studies, Faculty of Philosophy) highlighted the sustainability and community dimension of the format:
“We did not want to run an ordinary two-day hackathon—we wanted to build a community and a sustainable model in which young people work on real solutions for more than a month”.