Turkish photographer Dilek Uyar's 'In Epicenter of Covid 19' wins IPA Discovery of the Year Award

Duvar English 

Turkish photographer Dilek Uyar's “In Epicenter of Covid 19” series has won the International Photography Awards' Discovery of the Year Award 2020 in the “Deeper Perspective” category.

The series portrays patients and healthcare staff who are battling the COVID-19 disease, and the series caused quite a stir in the international photography community.

Uyar said that one of the world's best photographers Steve Mccury -- the man behind the Afghan Girl portrait featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine -- was the one who announced the winner. 

"IPA Discovery of Year, which is above all categories, is mine. My hands are shaking, I cannot believe it," she wrote on her Twitter account. 

Uyar is in fact a lawyer but has been taking pictures for 10 years now. She has won numerous prizes from prestigious organizations for her photographs.

During the coronavirus outbreak, she has photographed Ankara's streets and documented the municipality's disinfection works. Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş has even shared many of Uyar's photographs on his social media accounts.

The International Photography Awards is recognized around the globe as one of the most influential and comprehensive events in the photography world today.

The jury panel, made up of established experts in the photography field, judged over 13,000 entries to finally select the winners in each of the 13 Professional and Amateur/Student categories.

The winners then competed for the Top 2 prizes -- Photographer of the Year 2020 and Discovery of the Year 2020. The final winners were revealed at a special online event on Feb. 13 and 14. 

Turkish photographer's Ankara subway photo featured on National Geographic platformCulture