The award has long been considered one of the most important and highly endowed photography prizes in the world, and this year Leica Camera AG is granting it for the 43rd time. The jury, which has a new composition each year, has been selected; and the current LOBA year is now entering the decisive preparatory phase.

The Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) has been granted to outstanding photographers every year since 1980. LOBA’s thematic approach has consistently gained in importance and reputation. As in previous years, the selection of the winners is based on proposals submitted by a panel of nominators, made up of photography experts from all over the world. The final choice of the winners in the main and newcomer categories, as well as the shortlist nominees, is made by a five-member jury. This year’s jury includes:

Caroline Hunter, Picture Editor for The Guardian’s Saturday magazine (Great Britain)

Whitney Hollington Matewe, Photo Editor at TIME Magazine (USA)

François Hébel, Curator (France)

Luca Locatelli, Photographer (Italy)

Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director and Chief Representative Leica Galleries International (Austria)

www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/en/loba-2023/the-jury.html

The jury will come together to deliberate in May, at Leica Camera AG’s headquarters in Wetzlar. They will choose the 2023 LOBA winner in the main and newcomer categories from a shortlist of up to twelve series, selected from proposals submitted by around 60 photography experts from over 30 countries. Based on their personal expertise and experience, each nominator puts forward their choices of up to three photo series, which each include between 15 and 20 images. The prerequisite for a photo series to be considered for nomination for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, in both categories, is that the pictures must be documentary or conceptual-artistic works that deal with the relationship of people to their environment. This humanistic constant has defined the LOBA since its inception in 1979. That was the year in which Oskar Barnack, the developer of the Ur-Leica and whose name is given to the competition, would have been 100 years old.

The Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award has complemented the main category since 2009 and is granted to a photographer under 30 years of age. Participating photographers will once again be selected in collaboration with, and through proposals submitted by, international institutions and colleges from 15 countries. In addition to information about the LOBA, and interviews with previous jury members and nominators, the LOBA website is already listing all of the LOBA 2023 nominators: www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/en/loba-2023/the-nominators.html

The LOBA’s Main Award is endowed with 40,000 euros in prize money, and Leica camera equipment valued at 10,000 euros; the Newcomer Award winner receives 10,000 euros and a Leica Q2. Furthermore, the winning series will be on display in Leica galleries and at selected photo festivals around the globe, as part of a touring exhibition that will be presented, initially, on the occasion of the award ceremony in Wetzlar in October. Both winners and all the shortlist candidates will be featured in the LOBA catalogue.

Over the coming summer months, the series by all the shortlist nominees will be presented on the LOBA website. The announcement and award ceremony, revealing the winners in both categories, will take place on 12th October 2023, in Wetzlar.

Further information at: www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/en/

Please find further information at:

Leica Camera AG
Ann-Kristin Löhr
Global PR Coordination
E-Mail:  Ann-Kristin.Loehr@leica-camera.com

Leica Camera 소개

Leica Camera AG는 150년 이상의 역사를 자랑하는 세계적인 프리미엄 카메라, 렌즈 및 스포츠 광학 제품 제조업체입니다. 회사의 성장 전략의 일환으로 모바일 이미징(스마트폰), 고급 안경 렌즈 및 시계로 사업을 확장했으며, 자체 프로젝터를 통해 홈 시어터 부문에 진출했습니다.

Leica Camera AG는 베츨라(독일, Wetzlar)에 본사를 두고, 빌라 노바 드 파말리캉(Vila Nova de Famalicão, 포르투갈)에 두 번째 생산 시설을 운영하며, 전 세계 120개 이상의 라이카 스토어를 포함한 자체 유통 네트워크를 보유하고 있습니다. 라이카에서는 2,400여 명의 직원이 근무하고 있으며 회계 연도 2023/24에는 5억 5,400만 유로의 매출을 달성했습니다.

라이카 브랜드는 우수한 품질, 독일의 장인 정신과 산업 디자인과 함께 혁신적인 기술을 상징합니다. 라이카의 브랜드 문화에는 사진 문화를 지원하는 활동이 포함되어 있으며, 전 세계 약 30여 개의 라이카 갤러리, 라이카 아카데미, 그리고 Leica Hall of Fame Award 및 Leica Oskar Barnack Award(LOBA)와 같은 국제 어워드가 이를 뒷받침합니다.