The winner of the First Prize in the 9th International Cartoon Competition, was Mustafa Tozakı who was presented with a Money Prize at the ceremony held in Girne Municipality.
The cartoonists who won the first three awards in the 9th International Cartoon Competition, which was traditionally organised within the framework of the 19th Olive Festival and within the scope of the International Olive Humour Festival by the Girne Municipality and the Cyprus Turkish Cartoonists Association, were given monetary awards as the award ceremony was not held this year as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Mustafa Tozakı, one of our country’s illustrators, who won the First Prize (Golden Olive) in the free-themed section of the 9th International Cartoon Contest, was presented with the monetary award by the Mayor of Girne, Nidai Güngördü, at a special ceremony which was held on 26th November 2020.
In addition to the Girne Municipality officials, the Cyprus Turkish Cartoonists Association was present at the award ceremony. Providing enlightening information on the subject before the award ceremony, Cyprus Turkish Cartoonists Association General Secretary Hüseyin Çakmak said, “We had a limited digital event this year due to the pandemic and quarantine process. We could not hold the International Cartoon Ceremony within the framework of the Olive Festival, which was planned to be held in Zeytinlik Village in October. We postponed this ceremony to 2021. The award ceremony may be delayed, but we wanted to give the monetary reward. Mustafa Tozakı, who won the grand prize for the first time in our country, is with us today. The contestants who won other awards will also be given their awards in the future”.
Nidai Güngördü, Mayor of Girne, who presented Mustafa Tozakı with his monetary award, said, “Despite the limited efforts of postal services in the world, 289 cartoonists from 62 countries participated in the contest with 887 works. This is very important for us, for Northern Cyprus and the Municipality. It is another pleasure for me that an artist from our country won the first prize in the free category for the first time this year. I congratulate our friend Mustafa Tozakı for this success. I would like to thank everyone who participated, and I would like to thank our teammates and Cyprus Turkish Cartoonists Association.
Source (Turkish) : Girne Municipality
