Doğan News Agency nets two photo awards

ISTANBUL

An image of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old refugee who drowned off Turkey’s Bodrum coast in September last year, which was captured by Doğan News Agency reporter Nilüfer Demir received the Press Photo of the Year award at Turkey Photojournalist Association Press’ Photos of the Year 2016 contest. 

The heart-wrenching image of Kurdi, who was killed on Sept. 2, 2015, had triggered awareness in Turkey and across Europe about the refugee crisis, as many people voiced their anger at Europe’s lack of action on the plight of refugees, particularly from Syria.

Demir had said in an interview that she was petrified when she encountered the boy’s lifeless body lying on the sand.

“At that moment, when I saw the 3-year-old Kurdi, I was petrified,” Demir had said, adding she had no other option but to do her duty as a journalist and snap a picture of his body.

DHA photojournalist Uğur Can also received an award in the competition’s politics category for a photo of a partridge landing on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s head during his visit in the Black Sea province of Rize.

A total of 4,155 photos from the events which marked 2015 entered the contest, which was held for the 31st time this year.

For the first time, two separate juries evaluated the news categories and Spor Toto Sports Photos in the contest, in which 30 photos and six series in eight categories won prizes.