The annual Leica Oskar Barnack Awards for professional photographers have now been announced, with entries being officially received from March 1st and April 10th 2017.
The competition is one of the longest-established and most prestigious international photographic competitions, back again this year for its 37th cycle. The brief for photographers entering the competition is to ‘perceive and document the interaction between people and their environment in a creative and ground-breaking style’, in the form of portfolios of between 10 and 12 images taken in 2016 or 2017. Long-term projects are also eligible, so long as they feature at least some images from that time-frame too.
Last year, the headline award was won by French photographer Scarlett Coten, who impressed the judges with her series challenging the archetypes of masculinity in the Arab world. Titled ‘Mectoub’, the judges were particularly impressed with her composition throughout the series, which they say drew the viewer’s eye to the dichotomy between social conformity and personal desires through intimate portraiture.
© Scarlett Coten (grand prize winner 2016): Mectoub
The Oskar Barnack Awards feature a prize package totalling a value of €80,000, including €25,000 and Leica M-system camera equipment for the grand prize-winner. Also available is the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, open to up-and-coming photographers under the age of 25), claimed in 2016 by Clémentine Schneidermann, which features a €10,000 prize and more Leica gear. In addition to the two main categories, a shortlist of ten further submissions to the competition will each be honoured with prizes of €2,500.
To learn more and to see the full terms and conditions of entry, visit the awards website.
© Clémentine Schneidermann (newcomer award-winner 2016): The Unbearable the Sadness and the Rest
