Istanbul Photo Awards 2019 winners announced
ISTANBUL – Anadolu Ageny
Agence France-Presse photojournalist Ahmad Gharabli’s striking photo of a Palestinian woman and Israeli security officer taking photos of each other has been chosen Photo of the Year 2019 in the Istanbul Photo Awards, organized by the state-run Anadolu Agency.
In the Single News category, 40-year-old Palestinian Gharabli’s image shot on a Jerusalem street got the top prize in the contest, held in Istanbul.
A jury of international experts picked the winners in all categories on April 19-23. Mainly focusing on news and sports photos, the contest has four categories: Single News, Story News, Single Sports, and Story Sports.
Deborah Copaken, an American author/photojournalist, joined the jury for the first time this year as chairwoman.
“The addition of these phones makes it kind of a universal statement about where we are in news gathering today,” Copaken said.
Second prize in the Single News Category went to Spanish-based Daniel Ochoa de Olza, 41, a documentary photographer for the Associated Press.
Olza’s photo shows a group of migrants jumping the U.S.-Mexico border at night.
Elyxandro Cegarra, a freelancer, 41, got third prize in the same category, with his photo shot during the Yellow Vest protests against rising fuel taxes in Paris.
“The image we chose was of a woman on her knees, kind of crying out, she wasn’t even wearing a Yellow Vest. And in that image, you understand the impetus of this entire movement,” Copaken said.
In the Story News category, a series by Mexican photojournalist Guillermo Arias, 44, a regular contributor to AFP got the top prize. The series shows the perilous journey of thousands of Central American migrants to the U.S.
Forty-year-old Getty Images photographer Chris McGrath’s series taken in the wake of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul got second prize in the same category.
Third prize winner in the Story News category went to Indonesian-based freelancer Ulet Ifansasti for his photos showing the aftermath of the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.
In the Single Sports Category, German photojournalist Matzke Stefan, 56, got first prize for his photo showing big wave surfer Sebastian Steudtner of Germany experiencing a wipeout on the famous Praia do Norte in Nazare, Portugal.
U.S.-based freelancer Terrell Groggins, 37, got second prize in the same category and Reuters photographer Lenoir Francois, 46, from Belgium, got third.
In the Story Sports category, the top prize went to Iranian freelancer Forough Alaei, 30, with her photos telling the story of a 22-year-old girl who disguised herself as a man to enter football stadiums.
Getty Images photojournalist Ezra Shaw, 45, got second prize in the same category and Belgian freelancer Alain Schroeder, 64, got third.
The winning photos will be compiled in an annual book and will be shown at exhibits in Turkey and abroad throughout the year.