Nehir Özzengin, a gifted young pianist from western Turkey’s Izmir province, came in first in Serbia’s Memorial Sanja Pavlovic Piano Competition, organized online on Dec. 23-30 with an international jury from Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.

According to a statement from Yaşar University, 15-year-old Özzengin, a student of the Music Academy of the university's Continuing Education Center, has made an impression with the awards she has earned in international competitions. The most recent success of the child prodigy was the championship she won at the Memorial Sanja Pavlovic Piano Competition, where contestant pianists could participate by sending the videos of their performances for online viewing, amid the outbreak of COVID-19.

Stating that she is passionate about music and has been composing for a year now, Özzengin expressed her happiness over winning the international competition.

"An international jury watched these performances and scored them. I was very happy to come in first as a result of their scoring," she said. "I attribute my continuous success to the fact that I set new and difficult goals for myself after every award I win. I got the last five first prizes thanks to these goals. My next goal is to have new international achievements without restricting myself and to move forward with confident steps in the field of music. My great passion for music will always continue."