Photos from the year 2023 captured by Anadolu's camera lens to open for voting on Monday

By Bugrahan Ayhan

ANKARA (AA) – Photos from the year that were captured by Anadolu's camera lens and left their mark on 2023 will be open for voting on Monday morning.

"Photos of the Year" will be selected among the 147 most impressive photographs taken by Türkiye’s leading news agency Anadolu photojournalists and correspondents on various topics and hot developments such as war, politics, sports, and life, which affect the policy of the country and the world and are frequently used in important international media organs.

Two special categories have been added to the "Photos of the Year" this year, which has become a tradition and in which hundreds of thousands of people vote.

This year, photography lovers will participate in voting in two special categories: "Gaza: Evidence" and "Earthquake: Hope."

Twenty-two photographs focusing on stories of hope during the Feb. 6 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, which affected 11 provinces in Türkiye and was described as the "disaster of the century," will be put to vote under the title "Earthquake: Hope."

Anadolu, which has decided to publish photojournalists' images and the names of cameramen who have performed important duties since the beginning of Israel's attacks as evidence in international law, will open a special section on this subject during the voting.

In this context, 25 photographs that were recorded in history as evidence about Israeli forces' attacks that constitute "war crimes" can be voted on in the category titled "Gaza: Evidence."

- Other categories

There are also 45 outstanding photographs in the main categories "Environment and Life," 30 in the "News" category, and 25 in the "Sports" category.

In addition to Türkiye, photographs selected by Anadolu photo editors from over 1 million frames published from all over the world, from the US to Pakistan, Ukraine to the Arctic Ocean, Palestine to Scotland, Afghanistan to Peru, are in Turkish and will be voted on globally with English subtitles.

Participants in the voting will be able to vote for as many photos as they want.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people vote, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ministers, politicians, bureaucrats, athletes, artists, and people from all walks of life.

The voting, which drew 416,746 votes last year, will be open until January 31, 2024, at 17:00 Turkish time on the website "yilinkareleri.aa.com.tr."

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul​​​​​​​