Winners of the 39th Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition Announced

FIRST PRIZE - Pawel Kuczynski - Poland

In the competition known as the "Oscars of Cartoon", the piece by Pawel Kuczynski from Poland was deemed worthy of the grand prize. The piece by Colombian artist Elena Ospina took the second place, while the piece by artist Halit Kurtulmuş Aytoslu from Türkiye earned the third place. Additionally, the ‘Empowered Girls, Empowered Futures’ Award was awarded to Oğuzhan Çiftçi.

SECOND PRIZE - Elena Ospina - Colombia

THIRD PRIZE - Halit Kurtulmuş Aytoslu - Türkiye

The thirty-ninth Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition, organized by the Aydın Doğan Foundation, with the belief that caricature is one of the arts that best reflects tolerance and common sense, was held this year.

This year, 570 cartoonists from 64 countries took part in the competition, which brings together artists from all over the world, who express different thoughts and beliefs into their cartoons. Hence, allowing them to express their art, through a total of 1,365 works.

Jury of cartoon masters

Under the leadership of Marco De Angelis, from Italy, an international jury consisting of world-famous cartoon masters including Ercan Akyol (Türkiye), Angel Boligan Corbo (Cuba), Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu (Türkiye), Saad Hajo (Syria), Piyale Madra (Türkiye), Tan Oral (Türkiye) and Yoshiaki Yokota (Japan) evaluated the submitted pieces.

As a result of the jury's evaluation, the work by Pawel Kuczynski from Poland was deemed worthy of the grand prize in the competition. The piece by Colombian artist Elena Ospina took the second place, while the piece by artist Halit Kurtulmuş Aytoslu from Türkiye earned the third.

‘Empowered Girls, Empowered Futures’ Special Award

Aydın Doğan Foundation, which works to support girls and young women to have equal opportunities in all areas of their lives, grants a special award every year at the Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition with the theme of ‘Empowered Girls, Empowered Futures’ This year, the winner of this special award was Oğuzhan Çiftçi.

EMPOWERED GIRLS, EMPOWERED FUTURES SPECIAL AWARD - Oğuzhan Çiftçi - Türkiye

Success Award to 3 artists

The Jury also awarded Muhammet Şengöz from Türkiye, Xiaoqiang Hou from the People's Republic of China, and Zygmunt Zaradkiewicz from Poland with Success Awards.

SUCCESS AWARD - Muhammet Şengöz - Türkiye

SUCCESS AWARD - Xiaoqiang Hou - China

SUCCESS AWARD - Zygmunt Zaradkiewicz - Poland

Awards will be presented in Istanbul

In the 39th Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition, the grand prize winner will be awarded $6,000, the second place $2,500, and the third will be awarded $1,000. Additionally, the artist who wins the “Empowered Girls, Empowered Futures’ Award will receive a $3,000 prize. The three artists who won the Success Award will be given 500 dollars each.

The statues symbolizing the awards and achievements of all the winning artists will be presented in Istanbul in November 2023.