Taken by French photographer Frederic Lafargue for Paris Match, a powerful image showing a difficult escape from Daesh was chosen Photo of the Year 2017 by the international jury of the 3rd Istanbul Photo Awards.

The photo titled “Escaping Daesh” is displaying the fearful passage of a pregnant woman who was trying to reach a safe place under very hard conditions, at the risk of her life, from a district close to Mosul surrounded by terrorist group Daesh.

Aris Messinis won first prize for Story News he covered for AFP. Adam Pretty was awarded for Single Sports while Patrick Smith got first prize for Story Sports. Mary Gelman was awarded for Story Portrait but no photos were deemed worthy by the jury to receive award for the Single Portrait category. Kemal Jufri won first prize for Story Nature & Environment and Johnny Miller won first prize for Single Nature & Environment. The jury awarded Hosam Salem, a freelance photographer based in Gaza with the Young Photographer Award. For an overview of all the winners, visit: http://istanbulphotoawards.com/Default.aspx

The photos were judged by a jury of international professionals in Cappadocia on March 19-22, 2017. Turkish Airlines is the Official Airline Sponsor of the contest. Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) also supports the event.

2017 Jury

Returning as jury members were Shanghai Center of Photography Director Liu Heung Shing, Media Consultant Georges De Keerle, AFP Photo Business Development Director Michel Scotto, Anadolu Agency Visual News Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Sel, and Anadolu Agency Photography Editor Fırat Yurdakul.

Other members of the 2017 jury include: Digital Editor of the French newsweekly Paris Match Marion Mertens, NOOR agency photojournalist Yuri Kozyrev, Getty Images photographer Cameron Spencer,  and Liza Factor, a curator who is famous for her multimedia works.

For more about the jury members, visit http://istanbulphotoawards.com/Jury.aspx

Yuri Kozyrev said, “I am really glad, satisfied and proud that this picture is a winner. I think it is very important to remind people what is happening in Iraq. I remember when I saw this picture on the front page of NYT. I was so impressed that he got there at the right time, right place and at that time there were not much refugees escaping. After that we have seen thousands of thousands of people trying to escape. I think there is some kind of intimacy. The way the photograph was taken is something different than what we have seen after that. The photographer managed to capture something important in advance. He showed us the first sign of the problem. For me, it is not cliché. It is an amazing moment.”

A total of US$133,000 cash prize

The contest awarded prizes to 22 photographers from 17 countries. The winner of the Photo of the Year receive cash prize of US$10,000 and the first prizes in all categories receive cash prizes of US$8,000. Second-place winners receive a cash prize of US$5,000, while third-place winners get US$3,000. Young Photographer winner also gets US$3,000.