Starting today,professional photographers and up-and-coming photographers under the age of 25 can submit online entries to the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) 2018 international photographic competition at www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com. Until 5 April 2018, all entrants have the opportunity to submit a self-contained series of between ten and a maximum of twelve images in which the photographer perceives and documents the interaction between people and their environment with a watchful eye in creative and groundbreaking style. Eligible for submission are series of photographs captured in 2017 and 2018 or work from long-term projects including at least some photographs made in this period.

As in previous years, an international jury of five experts will be choosing the twelve finalists for this year’s ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ and ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer’ from all the entries received.

The members of this year’s jury are:

Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director & Chief Representative Leica Galerien International (Austria)

Mark Lubell, Executive Director ICP - International Center of Photography (USA)

Markus Hartmann, Hartmann Projects (Germany)

Terje Abusdal, Photographer & LOBA winner 2017 (Norway)

Christian Wiesner, Artistic Director, Paris Photo (France)

The shortlist of the best entries for this year’s LOBA will be presented in June 2018. The awards for the winners in both categories of the 38th Leica Oskar Barnack Award will be presented in the course of a formal prizegiving ceremony in Berlin. The works of the winners and finalists of the LOBA 2018 will be presented to the public in a major exhibition in the ‘Neue Schule für Fotografie’ in Berlin. With prizes amounting to a total cash value of 80,000 euros, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award is one of the segment’s most prestigious photographic competitions. The winner in the main category will be honoured with a cash prize of 25,000 euros and Leica M-System equipment (a camera and lens) valued at an additional 10,000 euros. The winner of the Newcomer Award will be honoured with a cash prize of 10,000 euros and will also receive a Leica rangefinder camera and lens. In addition to the two main categories, ten further submissions to the competition will each be honoured with prizes of 2,500 euros. The portfolios entered by all finalists will be shown on the www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com website and in the magazine published specially for the competition.