Savatra Brought First Place! A Photographer from Konya Became World Champion

Tahir Ceylan, Member of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Photographic Arts Federation and President of the Anatolian Seljuk Photography Association, won the world first prize with his work “Star Exposure,” which he photographed at the Savatra Ancient City in Konya, in the “Photo of the Year Competition 2026” organized by the UK-based Current World Archaeology.

The universal language of photography combined with the thousands-year heritage of Anatolia and achieved an international success. In the "Photo of the Year Competition 2026" organized by "Current World Archaeology" (CWA), one of the most respected archaeology platforms in the world based in the United Kingdom, Tahir Ceylan, Member of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Photographic Arts Federation (TFSF) and President of the Anatolian Seljuk Photography Association (ASFOD), became the world champion.

The competition, held under the sponsorship of Hidden History Travel & Archaeology, hosted thousands of professional photographs submitted from around the world this year and described as “windows opening to the past.” In the marathon where works presenting new and striking perspectives on ancient heritage sites were carefully examined, Tahir Ceylan’s work titled “Star Exposure,” photographed at the Savatra Ancient City in Konya, reached the first-place podium with the perfect harmony of aesthetics and technique, following the evaluation of famous archaeologist and jury member Adam Stanford.

The competition jury described Ceylan’s work as “a masterpiece revealing the richness and depth of the ways we experience the past.” The photograph, which combines the silent witness of the Savatra Ancient City located at the foothills of Bozdağ National Park in Konya’s Karatay district with the endless movement of the sky, established a visual bridge extending from the ancient period to the modern age.

Savatra, which became the subject of the news and was crowned with the world first prize, is known as one of the most strategic centres of the ancient Lykaonia region. The city, which minted coins bearing the inscription “ΣΟΑΤΡΕΙΣ” in its own name in the 1st century BC and had the privilege of establishing a mint during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan, announced the autonomous spirit it possessed throughout history to the world this time through the lens of Tahir Ceylan.