Countdown starts for ‘Oscars of cartoons’

Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition kicks off in Bodrum as prominent names have taken their seats in the selection committee Leading cartoonists from Turkey and around the world gathered for the 31st Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition in Bodrum yesterday in excitement to choose this year’s winners.

Prominent people of the cartoon world have taken their seats in the selection committee, headed by Liza Donnelly, who is an award-winning cartoonist and writer for the New Yorker Magazine and Forbes. The jury also consists of famous figures: Ercan Akyol, Latif Demirci, Selçuk Demirel, Piyale Madra and Tan Oral from Turkey, and Dokhshid Ghodratipour from Iran, Moacir Knorr Gutterres from Brazil, Catherine Meurisse from France, Lichuan Xia from China and Anita O’Brien from London, who is the director of the Cartoon Museum in London.

The Aydın Doğan Foundation Executive Board Chair Candan Fetvacı said they feel the same excitement while organizing the contest every year, which gives people an opportunity to look at the problems of humans and the world from different perspectives. “We are also excited when we look at the cartoons [submitted to the contest],” Fetvacı said, adding this year, 814 cartoonists from 70 countries joined the competition with 2,556 pieces. “When people look at problems from a distance through a third eye, they make better evaluations and decisions,” she said, highlighting the educational role of the competition.  It is very important that all international members of the jury have been familiar with the competition for a long time, Fetvacı said, adding Chinese artist Xia told her the contest has been influencing the works...