Istanbul Photo Awards winners to be announced Wednesday

ISTANBUL

A jury of international professionals gathered this weekend to select the winning photographs of Anadolu Agency’s second Istanbul Photo Awards sponsored by Turkish Airlines.

The jury members, who came from all over the world, spent hours selecting the winners, who are to be announced on Wednesday.

Around 13,000 photographs were sent in from all around the world were assessed in various categories: News Single and News Story for an individual news photo or a collection around a story, as well as Sports Single and Sports Story.

The winner of the Photo of the Year and the first prizes in all four categories will receive a cash prize of $8,000. Second-place finalists will receive a cash prize of $3,000, while those arriving in third place will receive a cash prize of $1,500.

The jury consisted of respected professionals including Pulitzer-winning former photojournalist and founder of the Shanghai Center of Photography, Liu Heung Shing, Getty Images senior director Georges De Keerle, AFP’s photo distribution director Michel Scotto. Anadolu Agency’s own visual news editor-in-chief Ahmet Sel and photography editor Firat Yurdakul also participated in choosing the winners.

Pulitzer-winning Liu Heung Shing said he was very excited to be part of the jury for the second year in a row.

Getty Images senior director Georges De Keerle said: "I believe that that competition goes a long way to bring attention to the region and to the issues that shake the region."

Among the jury members were also world-wide known war-photojournalist Laurent Van der Stockt, Newsweek photography editor James Wellford, French newspaper Le Monde director of photography Nicolas Jimenez, and the Pulitzer and 2015 Istanbul Photo Awards winner Daniel Berehulak.

Berehulak said: "Being here this time has been a fascinating process of looking at all the works from all around the world and at some of the most important news stories of the year."

Competition results will be announced on Wednesday on the competition’s own website (http://istanbulphotoawards.com/) and Anadolu Images, the international photograph platform of Anadolu Agency.

Results will also be announced in a press release the same day.

Istanbul Photo Awards 2016 book to be published

Anadolu Agency will publish last year's outstanding images in the Istanbul Photo Awards 2016 book.

On Istanbul Photo Awards 2015's cover was Daniel Berehulak's photograph on the Ebola epidemic in Liberia.

Taken for The New York Times, the image captures the drama of the outbreak and was selected as "Photo of the Year 2015" at the Istanbul Photo Awards.

Later the same picture was awarded the Pulitzer Prize​.

The awards jury also made a statement denouncing the recent deadly terrorist attacks in Ankara and Istanbul.