By Aysenur Saglam

ANKARA 

Anadolu Agency photojournalists won 17 awards Tuesday in the “Turk Telekom Press Photos of the Year” contest.

Hosted by the Turkey Photojournalists Association (TFMD), attendees of the prestigious award ceremony included Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan and Youth and Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak.

Photojournalists of Anadolu Agency received a total 17 awards in different categories – one for "Press Photo of the Year" and three first place, four second place, four third place and five special awards.

Onur Coban won first place in the “Press Photo of the Year” category with his photograph depicting the humanitarian tragedy in Myanmar in recent years.

Coban also won an award in the “Photo Interview” category with his photo series depicting civilians crossing the Naf River through mountains into Bangladesh to flee Myanmar.

Other Anadolu Agency photojournalists that received awards included Sebnem Coskun in the “Turk Telekom Special Award” category, Cem Oksuz in the “Beauties of Turkey” category and Emin Sansar in the “News Photo of the Year” category.

The Turk Telekom awards have been held since 1985, making them the longest-running photo contest in Turkey, according to TFMD chair Riza Ozel.