Aydın Doğan Foundation-Aydın Doğan Awards
With the enrichment the cultural life in Turkey and enhancement of the living standards etched as the crux of its corporate identity, Aydın Doğan Foundation, through its awards established as a tradition by now, endorses people who have distinguished themselves with their contributions in various disciplines such as arts, literature, music, science and made noteworthy services to their country, the wider world and humanity.

Recognized as one of the most prestigious awards in Turkey, Aydın Doğan Awards are presented to artists and scientists from different disciplines who worked in their fields with great dedication for many years, achieving a remarkable legacy. The vision is to support their future work thus, to encourage other artists and researchers for further creations and works and shape efforts towards a richer and more sophisticated cultural heritage.

The award categories are determined meticulously, in consideration of the current events and preferences of the society. The selection committees feature competent, prestigious and objective figures renowned in their respective scientific fields with international acclaim. Each year, the award winners’ and jury members’ biographies are published in a special album to be distributed to relevant organizations and libraries.

Cartoon Competition and Cartoon Museum
Inspired by the view that cartoons are among the building blocks of a society open to different thoughts and beliefs, Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition achieved a worldwide reputation as the Cartoon Oscars. Organized annually for the last 25 years, the Competition attracted over 53,000 works by 6,500 artists from 130 countries with diverse cultural and political backgrounds, demonstrating clearly the scope and significance of the Award.

Conducted through an extensive and amusing process, every year Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition is swarmed with cartoons from nearly 100 countries, ranging from Ghana and Finland to USA and Philippines. The submitted works, from all corners of the world, are initially screened by a pre-selection committee and shortlisted for the assessment of the International Jury in June. Consisting of leading Turkish and foreign cartoonists, the jury subsequently selects 15 works following a meticulous selection process. The top three prizes, as well as 12 honorable mentions are then presented in a grand ceremony held annually in November. All the cartoons submitted to the International Jury are exhibited in domestic and international venues and printed in the annual album.

Since its inception, the Competition received over 53,000 cartoons. Work is under way for digitalizing and archiving these cartoons under certain categories such as country, year and artist. Following the completion of this project, the Foundation is preparing to launch an online cartoon museum. Further plans include inauguration of an actual cartoon museum.

Beyazıt Library Restoration Project
As the first state-commissioned library, Beyazıt State Library premises were originally built to house the public soup kitchen and alms house of Sultan Bayezid II Social Complex and then reallocated to be used as a library on orders of Abdulhamid II in 1882.

Following the 1999 earthquake which damaged the building, restoration work conducted jointly by Tabanlıoğlu Architecture Group and Aydın Doğan Foundation is underway to renovate the venue as a contemporary library, research and cultural center to serve the public.