The ‘Hagia Sophia Fiction Story Competition and Book Launch', organized by Young MÜSİAD in order to raise the level of knowledge and awareness about the ‘Hagia Sophia Mosque' in society and to convey approaches on the subject through stories, and which drew great interest, was held with a ceremony at the MÜSİAD Head Office. Awards were presented to the stories that placed in the Hagia Sophia Story Competition, which has the distinction of being the first of its kind in its field.

Young MÜSİAD President Furkan Akbal, Mahmut Bıyıklı, President of the İstanbul Branch of the Writers Union of Türkiye, members of the Young MÜSİAD Board of Directors, and members of MÜSİAD Art and MÜSİAD Women also attended the ceremony.

Dozens of applications came from all four corners of Türkiye to the Fiction Story Competition organized with the theme of the Hagia Sophia Mosque, the symbol of the conquest of İstanbul. Awards were presented to the stories that placed in the top 3 among the 12 stories that reached the final as a result of the jury evaluation. In the competition, in which a total of TRY 9,000 in prizes was awarded, the winner of the first prize was Osman Gökçeer with his story titled “Four Seasons in the Shadow of Hagia Sophia”, while the second prize went to Utku Genç with his story titled “The Passage”, and third place belonged to İlknur Bulut with her story titled “The Awakening of Sophia”.

In his speech at the ceremony, Young MÜSİAD President Furkan Akbal said, ‘I believe that we have achieved very important gains on this meaningful evening that we organized in order to leave a note in our history'. In addition, at the ceremony the authors of the top three stories made brief assessments about their stories.

The awards were presented to the winners of the competition by Young MÜSİAD President Furkan Akbal, Mahmut Bıyıklı, President of the İstanbul Branch of the Writers Union of Türkiye, and members of the Young MÜSİAD Board of Directors.

Young MÜSİAD, which recently launched the “Be a Breath for Nature” campaign together with its domestic and international branches in order to create a greener world, donated 10 saplings at the end of the ceremony on behalf of jury members Educator-Writer Erhan Erken, Researcher-Writer Melike Günyüz, and the İstanbul Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.

Young MÜSİAD Press Communication Committee
genclikkurulu@gencmusiad.org.tr
+90 212 395 00 00