Pictures of the Year: AA’s 'An open door to Europe' named finalist

Photojournalists from Turkey’s leading news source Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday were recognized by Pictures of the Year (POY) International.

Anadolu Agency's team received the finalist award in the category of Local Team Picture Story of the Year with the photo series “An Open Door to Europe.”

Photojournalists Şebnem Coşkun, Elif Öztürk, Arif Hudaverdi Yaman, Gökhan Balcı and Onur Çoban’s 20-image photo series depicts a group of asylum-seekers in Turkey’s northwestern border province of Edirne hoping to go to Europe.

A child tries to sleep as asylum-seekers wait in Edirne, Turkey for an opportunity to make their way to Europe, March 7, 2020.

The annual photo competition is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism in the U.S. and has been awarding the best photojournalism since 1944.

Asylum-seekers clash with Greek border guards, March 6, 2020.

The awards are given in various categories after being reviewed by an expert jury in the field of press photography every year.

An irregular migrant tries to destroy wire fence at Pazarkule Border Gate to enter Greece in order to reach Europe, at Turkey's border with Greece in Edirne, Turkey, March 1, 2020.

This year’s Local Team Picture Story of the Year is a new premiere category and “recognizes the collaborative effort of a photo staff covering a single topic that is important to its local audience,” according to POY’s website.

“It is a narrative picture story or series that is comprised of pictures taken as part of a team or staff effort to cover a local issue or news story,” it added.

Several people stand in the cold as they wait to make their way to Europe in Edirne, Turkey, March 6, 2020.

Asylum seekers clash with Greek security forces with a barbed wire fence between them.

Asylum-seekers wait in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province to reach Europe, March 6, 2020.

A man kneels next to another as asylum-seekers try to make their way to Europe through Edirne, Turkey, March 1, 2020.

A group of migrants wait in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province.

A man walks through a makeshift camp as the migrants wait in Edirne, Turkey, Feb. 18, 2020.

Greek security forces intervene as asylum-seekers wait in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province to reach Europe, March 1, 2020.

A man lies down in a makeshift bed as asylum-seekers wait in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province to reach Europe, March 2, 2020.

An asylum-seeker clashes with the Greek border guards.

A man carries a child while trying to cross the Turkish-Greek border, Feb. 29, 2020.

Asylum-seekers clash with Greek security forces while waiting in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province to reach Europe, Feb. 28, 2020.

Asylum-seekers cover themselves as they clash with Greek security forces.

An injured migrant is carried by a group of men in Edirne, Turkey, March 1, 2020.

Migrants pass through a fence in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province to make their way to Europe, Feb. 29, 2020.

An asylum-seeker tries to make his way through a fence in Edirne, Turkey, March 1, 2020.