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Leica Oskar Barnack Award

The highly esteemed and coveted international award for high quality reportage photography has been presented since 1979, the year marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oskar Barnack. The prize is awarded by Leica Camera AG and also includes the presenting of a ‘Newcomer Award'.

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Winner of the 2026 Leica Oskar Barnack Award

At the 46th LOBA awards, Russian photographer Damir Faizulin was honoured in the main category for his series Preserving Nature as Preserving Ourselves. In this year’s Newcomer category, Laila AnnMarie Stevens impressed the jury with her series Clayton Sisterhood Project. The LOBA Women Grant, which was awarded for the first time this year, went to Italian photographer Valentina Sinis.

Damir Faizulin

Preserving Nature as Preserving Ourselves

The winning LOBA series for 2026 transports us to the extraordinary mountain landscapes of Dagestan in the North Caucasus, one of the most ethnically diverse regions in Russia, renowned for its rich cultural heritage. In his long-term project, the photographer documents a region in a state of upheaval: his images depict not only the changes in nature but also the transformation of traditions and cultural identity.

Born in Uzbekistan in 1986, Faizulin discovered photography after enjoying success as a martial artist and professional wrestler. He has been working on independent projects since 2020, and the LOBA is the first international competition in which he has participated.

“It’s important to me that a photograph does not simplify reality, but rather helps us recognise its complexity.”

Laila AnnMarie Stevens

Clayton Sisterhood Project

The winning Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer series centres on the American photographer’s own family history. Through her sensitive black-and-white photographs, Stevens recounts the story of her two sisters and four nieces, who relocated from Queens, New York, to a shared house in Clayton, North Carolina. The family also serves as a lens through which to reflect on contemporary queer kinship and the enduring legacy of strong, self-assured Black women.

Stevens was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York, in 2001, and studied photography and media at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. At the age of just 20, her work was published in the ‘Metropolitan’ section of The New York Times.

“When selecting these images, I wanted the works to reflect the various ways in which connection is expressed across generations.”

More about this year's winners

Leica Oskar Barnack Award winners from previous years