Istanbul Photo Awards 2019 exhibition opens at UN

By Betul Yuruk

NEW YORK (AA) - Anadolu Agency on Tuesday launched an exhibition at United Nations headquarters in New York featuring the works of award-winning photojournalists who competed in the international Istanbul Photo Awards 2019.

The event, hosted by high-level Anadolu Agency executives, opened with the attendance of Turkey's UN Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Sinirlioglu said: “We are very pleased to see the growing interest that Anadolu Agency’s annual photo awards have enjoyed over the years.”

Some 15,000 people from over 100 countries applied for this year’s competition, he called, and congratulated the jury members and those whose photos are on display.

Sinirlioglu highlighted that the photos depict many different emotions and expressions from the devastating impacts of natural disasters on people to the hope in the eyes of migrants who risk their lives for a better future.

“This exhibition puts the human phase on some of the most challenging issues that we as member states deliberate everyday here under the roof of the UN,” Sinirlioglu added.

He said that a photo may worth a thousand words with all its reality.

- 5th exhibition of Istanbul Photo Awards 2019

Bahadir Saracgil, an executive board member of Anadolu Agency, said that the event was the fifth exhibition of Istanbul Photo Awards 2019.

“As Anadolu Agency, we have witnessed photojournalists’ occupational devotion in our 100 years of journalism history. For this reason, we have initiated our Istanbul Photo Awards projects to reward the efforts of photojournalists and to encourage them,” Saracgil said.

Stating that submissions have opened on Nov. 1 for the sixth time, Saracgil said: “It is proud and exciting for all my colleagues to see that it [the competition] has a greater impact every year across the world.”

“In 2019, photographers from over 100 countries, including war, conflict and disaster areas such as Syria, Mexico, France and Indonesia, applied for our contest with 15,000 photographs.

“The jury, consisting of experienced editors and photojournalists, rewarded 12 photographers from 10 countries,” he said.

“We are happy to exhibit the same photos in another continent, while the exhibition we opened in Tokyo last month is ongoing. This situation proves the universality of news photography, which is one of the starting point of our contest,” Saracgil expressed.

He voiced hope that striking photos presenting the summary of the last year will be submitted for the contest, of which applications will be open until Jan. 31, 2020.

Saracgil also said that after three-month application process, most impressive photos of the year will be announced in March.

“I would like to thank in your presence to Turkish Cooperation and Cooperation Agency (TIKA) and Turkish Airlines (THY) who carry our country's flag with pride all over the world and have always supported this important project since its first day,” he said.

- ‘Great pride for Anadolu Agency’

“It is a great pride for us. This is the fourth exhibition of Anadolu Agency at the UN,” said Ali Turker Pirtini, another executive board member of Anadolu Agency.

He expressed hope other similar works of the agency and Turkey’s representatives to be exhibited at the headquarters in the future.

“Power of photograph reaches everywhere. It gives great acceleration in every aspect in terms of giving desired messages in a very accurate and impartial manner,” Pirtini said.

Among the attendees of the exhibit were the UN staff, foreign mission representatives and foreign journalists.

AFP photojournalist Ahmad Gharabli’s striking photo of a Palestinian woman and Israeli security officer taking photos of each other was chosen Photo of the Year 2019 in the Istanbul Photo Awards.

The exhibition will run through Dec. 27. Turkish Airlines and TIKA are the official sponsors of the exhibition.

*Writing by Sena Guler in Ankara