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Turkish news agency Anadolu on Friday opened the second exhibition of its international news photography contest, the Istanbul Photo Awards 2025, with a reception hosted by Chairman and CEO Serdar Karagoz.
The exhibition, following a debut in Ankara, features 139 images by 29 award-winning photographers. The works are on display at Dolmabahce Art Gallery, part of Türkiye’s National Palaces Collections Museum, through Sept. 7.
“Photography continues to be the purest and most powerful language of truth,” Karagoz said at the opening. “The frames you see here today are not just photographs but notes written into history, fragments of memory preserved for the future. Today, in Gaza, in Ukraine, and in other parts of the world, we are witnessing very precious testimonies through these photographs.”
He highlighted the winning image by photographer Saeed Jaras in the Gaza Strip, which shows parents embracing the bodies of their children killed in an Israeli airstrike.
“This frame was chosen as the best photo of 2025 by our jury,” he said. “Looking at it, we understand that war is not only about statistics. War cannot be told by numbers alone, because every frame, every moment is a human story.”
Karagoz pointed to Anadolu’s worldwide network of photojournalists in 135 countries, producing more than 6,000 items of content daily, including 4,000 photos, 1,500 news reports, 450 videos, 30 multimedia pieces, and 22 live broadcasts.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Anadolu journalists in Gaza have provided the global media with over 200,000 photographs and 15,000 videos, he said. One image by Anadolu photographer Mohammed Al-Yakoubi appeared on the cover of The Guardian Weekly with the headline: “We are dying slowly, save us.”
“After that, hundreds and thousands of newspapers, websites and bulletins published Anadolu’s photographs documenting hunger in Gaza,” Karagoz added.
More than 2,000 photographers from 114 countries submitted nearly 22,000 images to this year’s contest. An international jury selected the winners.
The exhibition includes striking images of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, floods in East Africa, a volcanic eruption in Iceland, athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Afghan women’s struggles, survivors of Syria’s Sednaya prison, Brazilian surfers confronting massive waves, and migrants on perilous journeys.
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