Istanbul Photo Awards 2017 images go on display

By Etem Geylan

ISTANBUL (AA) - An exhibition of photographs featured in Anadolu Agency’s 2017 Istanbul Photo Awards began in the port city's Tophane-i-Amire Culture and Arts Centre in the Beyoglu district on Sunday.

Sponsored by Turkish Airlines and the Turkish Coordination and Cooperation Agency, this year's contest saw 22 photographers from 17 countries receiving honors.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin, who attended the opening ceremony, stated that Anadolu Agency is one of the world’s best-established agencies and it is good to bring such artistic works to the public.

"I especially thank Anadolu Agency. The people who get a prize here also qualify for the Pulitzer Prize. This is an important indicator of how meticulously the photo contest in Turkey is done and how thoroughly the jury evaluates it," Sahin added.

Anadolu Agency Chairman and General Manager Senol Kazanci also said that about 3,000 people from more than 100 countries entered the contest with 25,000 photographs.

Kazanci said the exhibit, which spotlights award-worthy photos, opened in Istanbul and will proceed to the capital Ankara, UN Headquarters in New York, and Moscow.

"We are pleased to see that the Istanbul Photo Awards have now gone beyond the agency to become a Turkish brand and I hope that together we will all see even more important developments in the years to come," Kazanci added.

He also thanked Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University for hosting the contest as well as Turkish Airlines and the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) for their sponsorship.

-Distinguished winners

Photographer Frederic Lafargue's "Fleeing from Daesh" image, which the contest jury named Photo of the Year, is among the pictures on display.

For the first time in the contest's three-year history, Hosam Salem, a freelance photojournalist in Gaza, received the Young Photojournalist Award for his photo called "Street Training in Gaza". The new award is given to a winner under the age of 28.

Of the photos submitted to the contest, jury members picked the winners during a special meeting in Central Anatolia’s historic Cappadocia region on March 19-22.

Aris Messinis' photo series "Death in the Mediterranean" for Agence France Presse (AFP) won the News Series Award.

Adam Pretty's photo "Below the Surface" taken for Getty Images won the Sports Single Award, while Patrick Smith won the Sports Series Award.

Mary Gelman won the first prize in Portrait-Multiple category for her photographs of victims of domestic violence, while there was no winner in the Portrait-Single category.

Kemal Jufri's photo "Feeding Orphaned Orangutans" won the Nature-Environment Story Award, while Johnny Miller's Papwa Sewgolum Golf Course photo series took home the Nature-Environment Single Award.

Total prize money of $133,000 was awarded across eight different categories, in addition to the $3,000 Young Photojournalist award, and a separate $10,000 Photo of the Year award.

The exhibition runs through April 16.