Anadolu Agency publishes Istanbul Photo Awards album

By Ahmed Esad Sani

ISTANBUL (AA) - Anadolu Agency has published the award-winning news photographs of the global contest Istanbul Photo Awards 2019 in an album.

The album covers the photographs selected as winners in four categories of the contest which is supported by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and officially sponsored by the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines.

The cover of the album featured the winner of the Photo of the Year award -- “Israel-US-Palestinian Conflict” -- which was shot by 40-year-old Palestinian AFP photojournalist Ahmad Gharabli.

The photo depicts a Palestinian woman retaliating an Israeli soldier’s act to take her photo during protests against the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

The 2019 album of the contest, which has seen around 100,000 entries since first held in 2015, symbolizes the prominent events of the world agenda in 2018, from the photographers’ perspective.

Deborah Copaken -- an American photojournalist, author and jury chairwoman of the Istanbul Photo Awards 2019 -- wrote for the presentation of the album that all of the winning photos have stories that could only be told in thousands of words.

Russian jury member Yuri Kozyrev, a photojournalist with Dutch-based NOOR Agency and a jury member, said on this year’s top prize-winning photo: “It is a powerful example of how narrative war has become more important than physical war due to the new technology.”

The album will be distributed to leading press photograph representatives, news photo agencies and university libraries.

It will also be reached at the official webpage of the contest, www.istanbulphotoawards.com.

The award winning photos of this year will also be displayed on both domestic and foreign exhibitions, just like past years.

All the winning photos are available on www.istanbulphotoawards.com, and professional photographers can apply for next year's contest on the same website from Nov. 1, 2019 to Jan. 31, 2020.

*Writing by Sena Guler