Rising on the shoulders of the İstanbul Araştırmaları Yıllığı / Annual of Istanbul Studies, the relaunched YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies is now peer-reviewed. Thanks to a reformed advisory board, whose expertise covers all periods and disciplines in the study of Istanbul’s past and present, the journal now sets a much higher academic standard, manifested through double-blind peer review process with two experts reviewing each manuscript accepted for consideration. Every year, one of the articles written by a student or recent PhD will be awarded the YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies Early Career Article Prize. This year we congratulate Nilay Özlü, one of the three eligible authors in this issue, for winning the inaugural prize.