Daily News staff earns two journalism prizes

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Photographer Selahattin Sönmez was honored for the picture above, in which a protesting student is being silenced by Energy Minister Yıldız’s bodyguards.

The Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) announced the results of their Successful Journalists of 2011 Awards, presenting prizes to two members of the Hürriyet Daily News staff.

Photographer Selahattin Sönmez received the main Photography Award, while Daily News reporter Vercihan Ziflioğlu was given a special award in the name of journalist Behzat Miser, who passed away in 2010.


Sönmez was honored for a picture in which he photographed a student being silenced by Energy Minister Taner Yıldız’s bodyguards during a protest at Ankara’s Gazi University.

Ziflioğlu was recognized for her story regarding the murder of a Catholic bishop in the Mediterranean district of İskenderun. Ziflioğlu’s report said the investigations into his death could not be advanced any further due to a lack of support from the dead cleric’s family, based on the views of a lawyer involved in the case.