US envoy votes in Anadolu Agency photo contest

By Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - U.S. ambassador to Turkey has voted in Anadolu Agency's Photos of the Year competition for 2019, selecting his favorite entries in the categories of news, life and sports.

In the news category, David Satterfield selected the moment when Turkey remembered fallen WWI soldiers with people marching in the snow while carrying Turkish flags.

“I think it shows the bleakness of the winter setting against the colors of the flag, mountains in the background. It's a shock. That's uniquely Turkish,” he said.

“I think for photography, it was extremely well done. So it's the contrast between the snow, the mountain setting and the procession of flags,” Satterfield added.

For the life category, the American diplomat went with a picture showing a baby swimming underwater in Istanbul and said it was the hardest decision to make.

“It's the look of the light and fascination on her face as she experiences water. I think it's just an exceptional picture,” he said.

The envoy chose Cildir Crystal Lake winter festival image for the sports category, stating that it was a uniquely Turkish setting with the horsemen and the lake.

The first contest of the agency was held in 2012. This year, 50 images were selected from more than 750,000 photographs from different parts of the world, including Syria, Palestine, Russia, Germany and Spain.

The images were put to a vote in the news category which had 17 entries, life with 19 and sports had 14 entries with captions in Turkish and English languages.

Last year, 223,000 people took part in the voting.

This year's voting will continue through Dec. 31 at Anadolu Agency's website (aa.com.tr).