🇹🇷 Denizli Metropolitan Municipality has officially announced the winners of the 6th International Cartoon Contest, bringing to a close one of the year's most significant international cartoon competitions. Centered on the theme "Football" ⚽, the contest attracted an impressive 1,164 cartoons submitted by 450 cartoonists from 41 countries, highlighting football's universal power to unite cultures through the language of humor and art.
⚽ Following the submission deadline on 7 June 2026, the distinguished international jury met on 13 June 2026 to evaluate the entries. Led by renowned Turkish cartoonist Mehmet Selçuk, the jury included Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu, Şevket Yalaz, Savaş Ünlü, Ali Şur, Altan Özeskici, Aşkın Ayrancıoğlu, Abdülkadir Uslu, Özgür Başkurt, and Arif Duru, who carefully selected the winning works after an extensive judging process.
🏆 The Winners:
🥇 First Prize: Zeki Ozan Soyman - 🇹🇷 Turkey
🥈 Second Prize: Saeed Sadeghi Naghdali - 🇮🇷 Iran
🥉 Third Prize: Sajad Rafeei - 🇮🇷 Iran
🏅 Honorable Mentions:
🇮🇷 Ali Rastroo - Iran
🇹🇷 Önder Önerbay - Turkey
🇨🇺 Michel Moro Gómez - Cuba
🏅 Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu Special Prize: Agim Sulaj - 🇮🇹 Italy
🎖️ Under 18 Years Old:
🇹🇷 Emir Albayrak - Turkey
🇹🇷 Meryem Küçükçeşme - Turkey
🖼️ The Award Ceremony and Exhibition Opening will take place on Friday, 26 June 2026, at 18:00, at the Turan Bahadır Exhibition Hall in Denizli. The exhibition will showcase a remarkable collection of cartoons reflecting football's spirit of fair play, passion, competition, friendship, and unity through the universal language of caricature.