Istanbul Photo Awards reveals jury for 2017 contest

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – Jury members for the third Istanbul Photo Awards 2017 -- the international news and sports photography contest organized by Anadolu Agency -- were revealed Saturday.

As in past years, the jury for this year's contest is composed of some of the most prestigious names in the field of photography.

Director of the Shanghai Center of Photography Liu Heung Shing, photojournalist and visual media advisor Georges De Keerle, AFP director of photo business development Michel Scotto, Anadolu Agency Visual News Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Sel and Photography Editor Firat Yurdakul return as jury members.

Photojournalist at NOOR agency Yuri Kozyrev, Director of Photography at National Geographic Sarah Leen, Getty Images Photographer Cameron Spencer, and visual documentary producer and curator Liza Faktor will join the panel for the first time.

- New jury members

Sarah Leen worked as a freelance photographer for more than 20 years until she started at National Geographic in 2005 as a senior photo editor.

Leen participated in the juries for Pictures of the Year International, the W. Eugene Smith Grants, the Getty Images Editorial Grants and the World Press Joop Swarts Masterclass.

Photo journalist Yuri Kozyrev worked for Time magazine across the world during his 20-year career.

Kozyrev received several awards for his photography, including several World Press Photo Awards for pictures from Chechnya, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

Liza Faktor, a visual documentary producer and curator, served as jury member at the 2014 World Press Photo Multimedia Contest. Faktor is one of the most important and innovative names in the field of photography with Howard Chapnick Grant.

Australian photographer Cameron Spencer has been working on sports and portrait photography since 2004. Spencer has also received many awards in his field.

- New categories added, awards increased

Entry applications for the Istanbul Photo Awards 2017 started on Nov. 1 and will continue until Jan. 31, 2017.

The results of the contest will be announced by the end of March next year.

Total prize money for all categories in the contest will be $133,000.

This year’s competition sees an expanded range of categories, from four to eight. The four new categories include nature-environment single, nature-environment story, portrait-single and portrait-multiple.

Turkish Airlines sponsors the contest which will also be supported by the Turkish Prime Ministry’s Promotion Fund and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).

In the contest, a Young Photographer award will be given for the first time to a winner under the age of 28.

Applications will be made via http://istanbulphotoawards.com.

The exhibitions, which consist of photographs of winners of the competition, are on display every year at the important centers across the world.