The Award Ceremony of the 6th International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest was held with the participation of Prof. Peyami Çelikcan, President of the Green Crescent Scientific Committee. A total of 1,386 cartoonists from 67 countries took part in the event under the theme “Breaking Free of Addiction”, which this year saw applications being accepted for the first time in the “Under 16” category.
 
The online award ceremony organized for the International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest hosted by Green Crescent was aimed at raising awareness about the perils of addiction through the power of art. For the first time this year, applications were accepted in the “Under 16” category, and the theme was selected as “Breaking Free of Addiction”. A total of 2,380 works of art were submitted by 1,386 participants from 67 countries for the 6^th International Green Crescent Cartoon contest. The contest, which has been taking place for 6 years, has received more than 8,000 applications to date. The winner of the first prize was Vladimir Kazanevsky from Ukraine, the second prize went to Oleksiy Kustovsky from Ukraine, and the third prize was awarded to Cemalettin Güzeloğlu from Türkiye, while Doğuş Adalı from Türkiye, Khodayar Narouei from Iran and Gabriel Lopez from Mexico all received achievement awards. The Mazhar Osman Special Award was won by Hamid Ghalijari from Iran. Yağmur Baytekin, Aleyna Sedef and Poyraz Din from Türkiye won in the “Under 16” category of the contest, which was included in the contest for the first time this year.
 
In his opening speech at the ceremony, Prof. Peyami Çelikcan, President of the Green Crescent Scientific Committee and Jury Member, said:
“While various concerns were raised about the possible results of approaching such a serious and important problem as addiction with the humorous language of cartoons, Green Crescent first announced its International Cartoon Contest in 2016, aiming to raise awareness about the perils of addiction. Despite being a first in the field of addiction, the contest attracted the attention of hundreds of cartoonists from dozens of countries, and succeeded in giving people hope and courage. Both the interest shown in the contest and the quality of the cartoons submitted met the expectations of the organizers in the best possible way. Not only the cartoons that won awards, but also those that were deemed worthy of exhibition were used effectively in the awareness-raising activities of Green Crescent. In the end, the cartoons succeeded in bringing the problem of addiction to the agenda of the masses. Cartoons that attracted attention both at home and abroad were used so intensely and effectively that the Green Crescent Cartoon Contest became a point of focus for cartoonists all over the world. Despite all the negativities of the pandemic, we can consider this extraordinary increase in participation to be an indicator of the recognition of the International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest. The exciting point we have reached in six years makes us all both proud and happy”. 

This year, prizes amounting to a total of 90,000 TL were awarded

The applications were evaluated by a jury consisting of Prof. Peyami Çelikcan, President of the Green Crescent Scientific Committee; Metin Peker, cartoonist and President of the Cartoonists Association; Varol Yaşaroğlu, cartoonist; Özcan Çalışkan, cartoonist and Manager of the Green Crescent Event Department; and Gökçen Çukadar, the winning cartoonist in the 5^th International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest. The entries were evaluated in terms of their artistic quality, the humor in their approach to the subject, and the social and cultural power of the work with regard to daily life.
 
Based on the evaluations of the famous cartoonists and experts in the field of addiction, the winner of the first prize was awarded 15,000 TRY, while the cartoonists who took second and third place were awarded 12,500 TRY and 10,000 TRY, respectively. The three cartoonists recognized with achievement awards won 7,500 TRY, and one cartoonist took home the Mazhar Osman Special Award and a prize of 7,500 TRY. Being held for the first time this year, the three prize-winning talents in the Under 16 Category took home prizes of 7,500 TRY. Green Crescent handed out a total of 90,000 TRY to the winners of the 6^th International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest.
 
The prize-winning cartoons and the most noteworthy of the works submitted by the participants of the 6^th International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest have been included in a virtual exhibition that can be accessed at https://www.yesilay.org.tr/en/photo-gallery/6th-international-green-crescent-cartoon-contest.