The awards in the 39th Press Photos of the Year 2024 competition organized by the Turkish Photojournalists Association (TFMD) were awarded at the ceremony held in Ankara.
Adem ALTAN
EARTHQUAKE MARK ON PRESS PHOTOS OF THE YEAR
Photos from the February 6 earthquake last year left their mark on the 'Press Photos of the Year', the most prestigious photography awards of the Turkish media. Press Photos of the Year in Turkey's oldest continuous photography organization, organized by the Turkish Photojournalists Association for 39 years, were announced on the anniversary of the earthquake. The Press Photo of the Year Award in the competition was given to AFP Photojournalist Adem Altan for his photo of a father holding his daughter's hand under the rubble.
THE DISASTER OF THE CENTURY MADE ITS MARK
This year, approximately 6 thousand photographs from the events that took place in 2023 participated in the Press Photos of the Year Competition. In the competition, 21 photographs and 6 photograph series were awarded in 7 categories. At the organization, 10 photographs and 3 photo series taken during the 100-year disaster that occurred on February 6, in which more than 50 thousand people lost their lives, received a total of 13 awards. The Press Photo of the Year award was given to the shot of father Mesut Hançer holding the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who was trapped under the debris of Ebrar Site in Kahramanmaraş, where 109 people lost their lives in the earthquake in which 29 journalists lost their lives. Altan received the first prize in the Earthquake Category with this shot that resonated around the world.
HONOR AWARD TO BOZDEMİR
At the Turkish Beauties Photography Awards, which the Turkish Photojournalists Association carries to world capitals with international exhibitions, 9 photographs were deemed worthy of awards in 2 categories. Mert Nazım Engin from Marmara University and Hilmi Çoban from Mersin University received the Ara Güler Encouragement Award, which was organized for the 5th time for high school and university students under the age of 25 with the aim of encouraging young people to take photography. The Lifetime Honor Award, which the Turkish Photojournalists Association gives to a master every year, was given to the master Mustafa Bozdemir this year for his contributions to the profession. Bozdemir became the first Turkish photojournalist to win the "World Press Photo" award, considered the world's most important press photography award, in 1984, with the photograph he took in Koyunören Village after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Erzurum in 1983 and published in Hürriyet newspaper. The association announced that Mustafa Bozdemir, who announced the fact of the earthquake to the world with his photograph in order to remind us that we live in an earthquake geography, was deemed worthy of the Lifetime Honor Award this year.
FIRST IN THE SULTANS OF THE NET PHOTOGRAPHY
In the Spor Toto Sports Photo of the Year Category, the joy photo of the National Women's Volleyball Team, which beat Serbia 3-2 in the final of the 2023 CEV European Championship and became champions for the first time in its history, by Ahmet İzgi from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, was deemed worthy of an award. Ahmet İzgi also won the Spor Toto Special Award with the photo he took of the Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak and the President of the Turkish Volleyball Federation Mehmet Akif Üstündağ during the match of our women's national teams. The EU Earthquake Special Award was given to Nurettin Boydak from Ümraniye Municipality for his photograph of holding hands drawn on the rubble by the famous French land artist Saype in Hatay, which was devastated by the earthquake. Social Development and Solidarity Association (SGDD/ASAM) Special Award was given to Uğur Yıldırım from Milliyet newspaper for his photograph of the couple Caner Can Özkan and Hamide Büşra Çağlar, who got married in the container city 142 days after the earthquake disaster in Hatay.
SPECIAL AWARD FOR THE 100th ANNIVERSARY
In the Beauties of Türkiye 2024 Awards, which are open to the participation of all amateur and professional photographers, İsmail Serhat Şahin's photograph of fishermen leaving nets in the sea in Kocaeli's Gölcük district came first. In the Beauties of Türkiye from the Sky category, Emrullah Akgün's photograph of Afyonkarahisar Castle in the fog won first place. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey 100th Anniversary Special Jury Award went to Ahmet Turan Kural with his photographs from the Republic Day celebrations he took in Istanbul specifically for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. The ASKA Special Award was given to Emrah Kalkan's photograph of the Maiden's Tower under the fog and the fishing boat passing in front of it. The "Zero Waste Special Award", which was given for the fifth time this year in order to support awareness in the "Zero Waste Project" in the Press Photos of the Year, was given to the environmental photograph taken by Tolga İldun.
38 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND EVALUATION
Rıza Özel, President of the Turkish Photojournalists Association, said, "Describing an event with photographs can only be done through close witnessing, by being there and pressing the shutter button. That's why photojournalists live their testimonies by feeling these pains to their bones. No event, earthquake, war, or pain is the same. No two are alike, but February 6 and the earthquakes that followed were a historical turning point for many of my colleagues. It was one of the biggest disasters the world has witnessed. We lost more than 50 thousand lives and 29 journalist colleagues. "The Press Photographs of the Year jury also took this into consideration and evaluated the 2024 awards more specifically in terms of earthquakes, in order to remind us that we live in an earthquake geography. The biggest purpose of carrying visual documents to history is to help people who look at those photographs learn from the suffering. In order not to forget the reality of the earthquake, we will turn the award-winning photographs in this competition into permanent works with exhibitions and printed publications," he said.
PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR AWARD WHO IS ADEM ALTAN?
Adem Altan, who started his photojournalism career in Flash Ankara in 1982, worked for Nokta Magazine, Radikal Newspaper and Sözcü Newspaper, and then started working for the French AFP agency. Altan, who has successfully served in the management of the Turkish Photojournalists Association in different periods and has received many awards in the field of press photography, is married and the father of two children.
THE STORY OF THE PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR
AFP Photojournalist Adem Altan told the story of the award-winning photo he took during the earthquake with the following words:
"On the second day of the earthquake in Kahramanmaraş, I saw Mesut Hançer while walking among the collapsed buildings in Ebrar Site. While people were searching for their relatives in the rubble of the collapsed building with their own means, a person was sitting on the ground among the rubble. It caught my attention. When I looked carefully, I saw that he was holding a hand where he was sitting. I started taking his photo. While I was taking photos, he was following me with his eyes. He called out, 'Take a photo of my child.' He let go of the hand he was holding and came to me while he was lying on the bed, stroking the head of his child who was under the column. cansız bedenini gösterdi. Sonra bıraktığı eli tekrar tuttu. O elin evladının eli olduğunu o zaman anladım. Çok üzülmüştüm. ‘Dayanılmaz bir acı. Ne büyük acı’ diyordum içimden. Gözlerim doldu... Ama işimi de yapmalı, fotoğraf çekmeliydim. Yeteri kadar fotoğraf çektikten sonra ismini sordum. Zor konuşuyordu. Titrek bir sesle, ‘Mesut Hançer’ dedi. Sonra çocuğunun ismini sordum. ‘Kızım’ dedi ‘Irmak…’ Aramızda 20-25 It was about a meter away, so I couldn't talk much.
I stayed there for about 3 hours. While people were looking for their relatives in the rubble, father Mesut Hançer was sitting helplessly, still holding his daughter Irmak's hand. I waited there for about 3 hours, hoping they would come and take Irmak out. However, no one came while I was there. The priority of search and rescue teams was alive...”
WHO IS MUSTAFA BOZDEMİR, WHO RECEIVED THE LIFETIME HONOR AWARD?
Born in Ankara in 1947, Mustafa Bozdemir started his journalism career at Ulus Newspaper in Ankara Rüzgarlı Street when he was only 18 years old. He worked as a photojournalist, reporter and page secretary in Vatan, Adalet, Barış, Gündem, Günaydın and Hürriyet newspapers, respectively. In 1975, he graduated from the School of Press and Broadcasting, which was affiliated with Ankara Faculty of Economics and Commercial Sciences at that time. While working as a photojournalist in Hürriyet newspaper in 1984, Bozdemir became the first Turk to win the Word Press Photo award, one of the most prestigious awards in his field. Mustafa Bozdemir is a member of the Turkish Photojournalists Association, the Journalists Association, the Turkish Sports Writers Association and the Parliamentary Correspondents Association.
AWARD-WINNING EARTHQUAKE PHOTO TAKEN IN 1983
Mustafa Bozdemir became the first Turkish photojournalist to win the World Press Photo award in 1984. Bozdemir's award-winning photograph was taken during the 7.1 magnitude Erzurum earthquake in 1983. Bozdemir won this award with the photograph of Kezban Özer, who lived in Koyunören Village, mourning in front of the lifeless bodies of her children who were pulled from the rubble of the collapsed house during the earthquake that destroyed 147 villages and killed 1,336 people.
PRESS PHOTOS OF THE YEAR 2024 JURY:
Press Photos of the Year Jury President: Photojournalist Coşkun ARAL
Jury Members: Depo Photos Editor-in-Chief Tolga ADANALI, Fanatik Newspaper Photojournalist Murat AKBAŞ, İhlas News Agency General Coordinator İrfan ALTIKARDEŞ , Photojournalist and Lecturer Ercan ARSLAN , Reuters Photojournalist Ümit BEKTAŞ, Getty Images North Africa and Middle East Photo Editor Chris McGRATH, AP Turkey Photo Editor Francisco SECO, Photojournalist Mustafa SEVEN, TFMD Board Member Bülent UZUN
Special Juries: Press Counselor of the EU Turkey Delegation Miray Akdağ , SGDD-ASAM Corporate Communications Coordinator Murat Koralp , Representative of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Press Office Mustafa ŞANKAZAN
(written in surname order )
HERE ARE THE AWARD WINNER SQUARES
Press Photos of the Year 2024
Press Photo of the Year
Adem ALTAN/ AFP
TFMD Lifetime Honor Award
Mustafa BOZDEMİR
Earthquake Photo Winner
Adem ALTAN/ AFP
Earthquake Photo Second Place
Sedat SUNA/ Serbest
Earthquake Photo Third
Sedat SUNA/ Serbest
Uğur YILDIRIM
Earthquake Series Winner
Uğur YILDIRIM/ Milliyet Newspaper
Earthquake Series Second
Sedat SUNA/ Serbest
Earthquake Series Third
Tolga İLDUN/Highly
Earthquake Martyrs Special Award
Emrah GÜREL/ AP
Mustafa Pekcan Special Award
Yunus DALGIÇ/İHA
Rafet Hüner Special Award
Erdem ŞAHİN / EPA
Nature and Environment Photo of the Year
Uğur YILDIRIM/ Milliyet Newspaper
Nurettin BOYDAK
Nature and Environment Photography Second Place
Nurettin BOYDAK/ Ümraniye Municipality
Nature and Environment Photography Third Place
NO/Free text
EU Earthquake Special Award
Nurettin BOYDAK/ Ümraniye Municipality
Daily Life Photo of the Year
Erol YILMAZ / Altındağ Municipality
Daily Life Photo Second Place
Uğur YILDIRIM / Milliyet Newspaper
Daily Life Photo Third
Berk ÖZKAN/Free
TFMD Special Award
Sertaç KAYAR/ REUTERS
100th Anniversary Special Jury Prize
Ahmet Turan RULE
Grand National Assembly of Turkey Special Award
Ahmet Turan RULE
Portrait Photo of the Year
Ozan GÜZELCE / Milliyet Newspaper
Spor Toto Sports Photo of the Year
Ahmet İZGİ/ Ministry of Youth and Sports
Spor Toto Sports Photo Runner Up
Erdem ŞAHİN / EPA
Spor Toto Sports Photo Third
Mehmet Şirin TOPALOĞLU/Freelance
Photo Interview of the Year
Onur ÇOBAN/ Redux Pictures
Photo Interview Runner Up
Onur ÇOBAN/ Redux Pictures
Photo Interview Third
Tamer TAMAR/ Magma Magazine
SGDD ASAM Special Award
Uğur YILDIRIM / Milliyet Newspaper
Zero Waste Special Award
Tolga İLDUN/Highly
Spor Toto Special Award
Ahmet İZGİ/ Ministry of Youth and Sports
ARA GÜLER ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD
(Encouragement competition among university students)
Mert Nazım Engin/Marmara University
Hilmi Çoban/Mersin University
Türkiye BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
(Photo contest open to general participation)
ASKA Special Award
Ekrem KALKAN
Turkish Beauties from the Sky First
Emrullah AKGUN
Türkiye's Beauties from the Sky Runner Up
Neşe ARI
Türkiye's Beauties from the Sky, Third Place
Mehmet SUMER
Türkiye Beauty Winner
İsmail Serhat ŞAHİN
Türkiye's Beauties Runner Up
Beytullah ELES
Türkiye's Beauties Third
Ahmet Turan RULE
