The world’s first NFT Photography Competition, Awards Photos, took place at the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus with the support of Bybit. The event brought together leading figures from the art, photography, and technology worlds.

The First NFT Photography Competition in the World, Awards Photos, took place in Istanbul!

This year, for the first time in Turkey, the Awards Photos competition brought photographers from all around the world together. The evening began with a violin concert by Yıldız Asyalı and Güliz Asyalı and awarded winners with a total prize value of $50,000. The organization, conducted via the awards.photos website with the infrastructure of Seed.Photo and ByBit, and with the contributions of FIAP and Eurasia, rewarded the winning works.

The competition aimed to offer a fresh perspective to the art world by combining traditional photography with modern technology and was organized in six different categories. The jury of the competition evaluated submissions in creative concept, human, nature, open color, open monochrome, and travel categories. Elina Garipova won in the Creative Concept category with her daily photograph, while Mehdi Nağaşzade became the winner in the Human category with his photograph named “Zambak.” From participants from many countries around the world, Ovi Pop won in the Open Color category with his photograph titled “6 Chairs,” while Rüstem Rakimov became the winner in the Open Monochrome category. In the Travel category, Jie Fischer won with the photograph titled “Happy Days for Polar Bears.” The awards were presented to the winning contestants by TRT News Intelligence Chief Adem Hançer, Posta Newspaper Economy and Technology Editor Murat Gülderen, experienced journalist and academician Cem Kıvırcık, and Awards Photos Turkey Ambassador İlter Yılmaz.

İlter Yılmaz, the Awards Photos Turkey Ambassador, commented on the event: “We are proud to hold the world’s first NFT photography competition in the pearl of the world, Istanbul. Istanbul is known for its unique position in international events and congress tourism. It is virtually a treasure trove for photographers.”

Yılmaz continued: “NFTs are an innovative technology used to increase the value of digital artworks in the art world and provide new sources of income for artists. It enables artists to market their works as digital art, allows limited production, and enables artists to control their rights over the work through smart contracts. The purpose of our event is to raise awareness for NFT photography, enabling more artists to enter the NFT world and protect their works.”

Artificial intelligence: threat or opportunity?

While the Awards Photos event offered participants an innovative experience, it also marked an important milestone in the digital transformation of the photography world. Discussions were held about the future of artificial intelligence-supported photography and its reflection on the art world. The debate centered around whether artificial intelligence poses a threat or an opportunity and predictions were shared about the future of digital art.

Regarding this topic, Ashkan Alex Atashkar, Co-Founder of Seed.Photo, expressed that nowadays, artificial intelligence competes with human imagination. He stated: “Awards Photos opens the doors to a new era by bringing together traditional photography, blockchain technology, and NFT art. Therefore, the world’s first NFT photography competition had to be held in Istanbul, which holds great importance with its art and history. Everyone talks about artificial intelligence today. But is artificial intelligence a friend or a foe to us? Is it helping us in art or harming art? One of the biggest problems of our age in the online environment is art theft, and this is one of the most feared issues for artists. The solution to this problem lies in the Blockchain technology we mentioned. With Blockchain, photographs can be preserved on platforms in the way they should be, uniquely, and there will be no room for any theft. That’s why we aimed to create NFT photographs by combining Blockchain technology and photography art.”

For more information about the Awards Photos event and to view the winning works, you can visit https://awards.photos/.

Awards Photos Overview:

Integrated Photo Solutions LTD was founded in 2022 in Sydney, Australia, with a vision to protect photographers’ copyrights and works worldwide and promote the art of photography. In line with this vision, the first photography award ceremony will be held on February 5, 2024, at the Hilton Bosphorus Istanbul hotel, with support from FIAP and Eurasia under six main categories. Three of these six main categories will be dedicated to blockchain-based photographic works for the first time in the world.

About FIAP:

FIAP (Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique) was founded in Belgium in 1946 and is an organization that brings together national photography associations at the international level. By organizing biennials in member countries, it facilitates the sharing of knowledge and experience about photography and the art of photography.

About Eurasia Photographers Association:

The Eurasia Photographers Association brings together photographers in the Eurasian region and houses the photographers with the most awards among all photography associations.

About Bybit:
Established in 2018 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Bybit is a cryptocurrency exchange. With over 10 million users worldwide, it is one of the leaders in the cryptocurrency industry.