The Fifth Anatolian Food Photography Competition celebrated its winners at an awards ceremony held at Final International University’s Kyrenia campus in northern Cyprus. Serdar Aydın won first prize in the General category, while Sudenaz Karadağ took the top honour in the Students category. Winners received commemorative plaques and all-inclusive holiday prizes provided by Acapulco Resort Convention SPA Hotel.

Organised jointly by Final International University’s Ünal Çağıner School of Tourism and Culinary Arts, Anatolia Tourism Academy, and the Association for Tourism Education and Educators, the competition held its fifth edition in 2026. The ceremony brought together participants from photography, gastronomy and tourism, alongside local officials and academics teaching tourism management, gastronomy, culinary arts and cookery at universities across northern Cyprus.

Established in 2021, the competition aims to document the culinary traditions of Anatolia, including Thrace, and northern Cyprus through photography. It also encourages students to engage with gastronomy and photography while drawing attention to the work, traditions and everyday cultural practices behind local dishes.

This year’s competition featured three categories: General, Students and Cypriot Cuisine. Together, they showcased perspectives on culinary heritage from participants of different ages and educational backgrounds.

In the General category, Serdar Aydın received first prize, Besime Tanul second prize and Tuğba Taş third prize. Mursel Çetin received the Encouragement Award.

In the Students category, first prize went to Sudenaz Karadağ, representing İhsan Sabancı Girls’ Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School. Alihan Erkek of İstinye University received second prize, while Buse Erdoğan of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University took third prize. Rabia Kübra Irmak of Sakarya University of Applied Sciences received the Encouragement Award.

Bringing together secondary school and university students, the category offered young participants an opportunity to interpret local culinary traditions through their own photographic perspectives.

The Cypriot Cuisine category’s Encouragement Award went to Soner Özyalçın, recognising his contribution to documenting the island’s food culture.

The judging panel comprised Filiz Hösükoğlu, Meryem Akoğlan Kozak, Nihal Üstünkaya, Nurgül Boz, Oğuz Doğan, Osman Nuri Özdoğan, Tulga Albustanlıoğlu, Vedat Zorluer, Selim Yeşilpınar, Hasan Bağlar, Hamit Yalçın and Yılmaz Seçim.

Alongside their plaques, first-prize winners received five-day all-inclusive holidays for two, second-prize winners received four-day holidays for two, and third-prize winners received two-day holidays for two. All holiday prizes were provided by Acapulco Resort Convention SPA Hotel.

Through cooperation between higher education, civil society and the tourism industry, the competition uses photography to raise awareness of the culinary heritage of Anatolia and northern Cyprus and support its transmission to future generations.