Istanbul Photo Awards 2020 winners announced

By Firdevs Bulut

ANKARA (AA) - The jury of the Istanbul Photo Awards 2020, organized by Anadolu Agency, have announced the winners.

Anadolu Agency organized the annual contest for the 6th time. This year, the selection was made using a specifically designed online platform developed by Anadolu Agency’s tech team.

The international jury convened on June 24-25 to decide the first three winners in four categories: single news, story news, single sports and story sports.

Sponsored by Turkey’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines, the winners of the contest presents a summary of the events worldwide in 2019, from Hong Kong to Gaza.

- News category

In the Single News category, Yik Fei Lam’s photograph, titled “Hong Kong Protests,” won Photo of the Year Award. The photo shows a policeman pointing handgun at a protester.

Mahmoud el Hams came in second with his photo, titled “Funeral in Gaza,” which he shot for AFP. The photo shows distressed Palestinian children crying side by side.

Reuters photojournalist Ibraheem Abu Mustafa was awarded third with his photo of people breaking fast in a long table near the demolished buildings, titled “Palestinian Iftar amongst Rubble”.

In Story News, Valerio Bispuri won the first prize with his photo series titled “Prisoner.” Photos taken at Italian jails show daily life of prisoners.

Yik Fei Lam’s Hong Kong protest photos were awarded the second prize. The protests in Hong Kong are shown in a series of photos, from protesters to policemen and burning streets.

Alain Schroeder’s photos showing efforts to save orangutans that are forced out of the rainforest, got the third prize in same category. The series is titled “Saving Orangutans”.

- Sports category

Gazeta Wyborcza’s photojournalist Jakub Porzycki was awarded the first prize in Single Sports category for his photo titled “Gymnastics”.

The second award in this category was given to Getty Images photojournalist Richard Heathcote for his photo, titled “Boom-Two Time Champion.” The photo captures the drama of a high-stakes boxing rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia, 2019.

Insidefoto photojournalist Andrea Staccioli won the third place in the Single Sports category, with photo titled “Diver”.

Getty Images photojournalist Adam Pretty won the first prize in Story Sports with a series of photos, titled “Sport Climbing’s Olympic Debut.” He also won the second award with “The Road to Tokyo 2020 Paralympics”.

AFP photojournalist Franck Fife won the third award in Story Sports with photo titled “Titan Bike Race”.

Details of the winner photographs can be found at "http://istanbulphotoawards.com/"

Winner of the Photo of the Year won the prize of $8,000. First places in other categories are awarded $5,000, second places $3,000, and third places $500.