Aydın Doğan Cartoon Contest to celebrate 30th anniversary

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

The selective committee members of the 2013 Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Contest pose together. They wil attend the special event to be orgenized to celebrate the 30th year of the contest.

The 30th Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Contest will organize a Gala Night on Oct. 24 and host renowned names from the world of cartoons from Turkey and oversees.

The celebration event will be held at Istanbul’s Hilton Convention Center, where this year’s winners will be presented and a special section will display works from throughout the history of the contest.

Renowned British cartoonist Ralph Steadman, whose life was depicted last year in the documentary “For No Good Reason,” will be in Istanbul for the special event. Steadman, who has been a member on six different occasions in the Aydın Doğan Cartoon Contest Selective Committee, is the creator of the “Gonzo Journalism” style with Hunter Thompson. He produces cartoons for many renowned international publications such as The New Yorker, The Independent and Rolling Stone.

Another name who will come to Istanbul for the ceremony will be the Federation of Cartoonist Organizations (FECO) Chairman Peter Nieuwendijk. He will deliver a speech titled “Inspiring the Inspirers” on the night.

Winners of 2013 to be displayed at CKM

The annual event is organized by the Aydın Doğan Foundation and has so far received 7,800 cartoonists from 137 countries with nearly 80,000 works since 1983.

The contest has so far hosted 130 cartoonists from 41 countries as the selective committee members over the years. The international jury of the contest has so far rewarded a total of 99 works as the first three winners among nearly 80,000 submissions from 7,800 artists. Some 393 works have also received the “special success” awards.

An exhibition at the event titled “Talking Drawings of the 30th Year” will display the top three winners of the contest since 1983. Following its opening in the gala night, the exhibition will be open to visitors at the Caddebostan Culture Center between Oct. 25 and Nov. 15, and will also feature the winning cartoons in the 30th contest. This year’s selection committee, headed by Czech cartoonist Adolf Born, is made up of many leading figures from the world of cartoons: Ercan Akyol, Latif Demirci, Selçuk Demirel, Piyale Madra, Brad Holland, Robert Mankoff, Anita Kunz, and Ralph Steadman.

Polish cartoonist Krzysztof Grzondziel’s work, which particularly focuses on the damage caused by wars, won the first prize in this year’s contest. The second prize of the contest went to Turkish artist Asuman Küçükkantarcılar and third prize to Luxembourger Pol Leurs.

This year, 842 cartoonists from 77 countries took part in the contest with a total of 2,544 cartoons. The international committee, which gathered in Bodrum, also evaluated 234 cartoons by 199 artists from 43 countries, which had already been chosen for consideration by the pre-selection committee.