The jury of the Istanbul Photo Awards 2020, organized by Anadolu Agency (AA), has announced the winners of this year's contest.
Organized for the sixth time this year, the annual contest presented its selection on a specifically designed online platform developed by AA's tech team.
The international jury convened on June 24-25 to decide the first three winners in four categories: single news, story news, single sports and story sports. Sponsored by Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines, the winners of the contest gave a summary of the events worldwide in 2019, from Hong Kong to Gaza.
In the Single News category, Yik Fei Lam's photograph, titled "Hong Kong Protests," won Photo of the Year Award. The photo shows a policeman pointing a handgun at a protester.
Mahmoud el Hams came in second with his photo, titled "Funeral in Gaza," which he shot for Agence France-Presse (AFP). The photo shows distressed Palestinian children crying side by side.
Reuters photojournalist Ibraheem Abu Mustafa was awarded third with his photo of people breaking the Ramadan fast at a long table set up next to demolished buildings, titled "Palestinian Iftar amongst Rubble."
In Story News, Valerio Bispuri won the first prize with his photo series titled "Prisoner." The photos were taken at Italian jails showing the daily life of prisoners.
Yik Fei Lam's Hong Kong protest photos were awarded second prize. The protests in Hong Kong are shown in a series of photos, from protesters to policemen and burning streets.
Alain Schroeder's photos showing efforts to save orangutans that have been forced out of the rainforest won third prize in the same category. The series is titled "Saving Orangutans."
Sports category
Gazeta Wyborcza's photojournalist Jakub Porzycki was awarded first prize in the Single Sports category for his photo titled "Gymnastics."
The second award in this category was given to Getty Images photojournalist Richard Heathcote for his photo, titled "Boom-Two Time Champion." The photo captures the drama of a high-stakes boxing rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia in 2019.
Insidefoto photojournalist Andrea Staccioli won third place in the Single Sports category, with a photo titled "Diver."
Getty Images photojournalist Adam Pretty won the first prize in Story Sports with a series of photos, titled "Sport Climbing's Olympic Debut." He also won second prize with "The Road to Tokyo 2020 Paralympics."
AFP photojournalist Franck Fife won third prize in Story Sports with the photo titled "Titan Bike Race."
Details of the winner's photographs can be found on the contest website.
The winner of the Photo of the Year won a prize of $8,000. First-place winners in other categories were awarded $5,000, second-place winners receive $3,000, and those in third place get $500.