Golden Butterfly goes to best of Turkey’s entertainment world

ISTANBUL

The 47th Pantene Golden Butterfly Awards, the longest-running award ceremony that takes the pulse of the country’s cinema, TV and music world, took place in Istanbul on Dec. 5.

Winners selected by the public and jury votes got their awards in various categories at the ceremony, organized in collaboration between the daily Hürriyet and Pantene, held at Zorlu PSM.

The event, hosted by actor Cem Davran and model-actress Çağla Şikel, reached millions through television broadcast.

Belgium-born Turkish singer Hadise received the “Best Female Singer” award for the second consecutive time.

“Today is the World’s Women’s Rights Day. I am sensitive to women’s issues. I never kept quiet and never will. There were too many femicides this year. I take this award in the name of all those women who became victims and are living a restricted life,” she said.

Nazlı Çelik, an anchorwoman, also dedicated her “Best TV Anchorwoman” Award to all women who are victims of domestic violence. “The women of this land are mothers, laborers and lovers,” she expressed.

Edis, 31, received the “Best Male Singer” award in the name of “all the musicians who suffered amid the pandemic.”

He was also honored for his song, “Martılar,” (Seagulls) which was chosen as the “Song of the Year.”

This year, the “Best Actress” Award was shared by two women from the TV series “Masumlar Apartmanı” (The Apartment of the Innocents), which tells the story of three siblings suffering psychological problems. Ezgi Mola and Merve Dizdar thanked the crew of the series.

Çağlar Ertuğrul got the “Best Actor” award for his performance in a TV series “Teşkilat” in which he portrays a Turkish intelligence officer on the field.

Gülseren Budayıcıoğlu, a psychiatrist and an author, said “it was her dream to see such a crowd full of beautiful women and handsome men in front of her,” while she accepted the “Best TV Series” Award for “Camdaki Kız.”

Media mogul Acun Ilıcalı, who presents some TV shows on his TV channel TV8, has been awarded as “Best Male Presenter.” “I take this award for my daughters, my lifelines,” he said on stage.

“Breakout Star Of the Year” Award was shared by three actresses: Cemre Baysel, Ahsen Eroğlu and Melis Sezen.

Eroğlu and Baysel thanked their mothers for their support, while Sezen highlighted the importance of belief. “If we believe in something, we achieve success,” Sezen noted.

“Best Anchorman” Award went to Deniz Bayramoğlu, Sefo got the “Best Rapper” Award and Cüneyt Özdemir was selected as the host of the “Best News Program Of the Year.”

The excitement Kurtuluş Kuş and Burak Bulut, a duo whose songs were played on YouTube more than a billion times, felt on stage while receiving the “Breakout Singer” Award was obvious.

TV show “MasterChef,” a competitive cooking show TV format, was selected as the “Best Contest” award. The show’s Italian chef Danilo Zanna, who wins hearts with his sympathetic broken Turkish, caused laughter while receiving the award, saying, “I am the spokesman for the other [Turkish] members of the MasterChef jury as a fluent Turkish speaker.”

Prominent TV presenter Müge Anlı burst into tears on stage, thanking all her supporters. “I started the show 14 years ago with a bunch of people. Millions of people walked the path with me. I thank them all,” Anlı said after receiving the “Best Female Presenter” Award.

Golden Butterfly Awards is named after “Kelebek,” the magazine supplement of Turkey’s most influential newspaper, the daily Hürriyet, which was firstly published on May 1, 1948.