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Award of Excellence
Randy Olson
Aurora / National Geographic Society

"Yayla Migration"  

The closest mountain peaks ever get to the sea is in an area of Turkey defined by the Pontic Alps on the Black Sea coast. This area, cut off to the world by geography, is also the place where a mountain to sea migration has been going on since the Neolithic. Mountain homes are called Yaylas (YIY-luz) and most families have more than one. Families fish at the coast and as the temperatures rise, they move to a succession of homes higher in the mountain range. These homes are community property and bequeathed during the Ottoman period. Girls in this village vote every year to keep the ancient outfits that date back to the Genoese traders.
 
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