Leica has revealed that the presentation of the Leica Oscar Barnack Award 2016 will take place in Berlin, Germany, on 28th September. The Award's return to Germany brings the competition back to the birthplace of its namesake - Oskar Barnack, the inventor of the ‘Ur-Leica.’ Approximately 3,200 photographers from a total of 108 countries submitted entries to the 2016 Award - almost twice as many entrants as in the previous year, with a record number of submissions. The portfolios of the twelve finalists in the categories ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ and ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award’ will be publicly announced on 15 June 2016 on the Award's website.

Leica Press Release

Leica Oskar Barnack Award presentation to return to Germany

Submission phase of prestigious international photographic competition closes with record number of entries

2016 awards to be presented in Berlin

Leica has today revealed that the presentation of the Leica Oscar Barnack Award 2016 will take place in Berlin, Germany, on 28 September.

The announcement of the winners of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award and Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award categories in the international photographic competition, which has been held every year since 1979, will take place at a gala event and exhibition opening in Berlin.

Its return to Germany brings the competition back to the roots of the man who lent it his name – close to the birthplace of Oskar Barnack in Lynow, Nuthe-Urstromtal. The career of the inventor of the ‘Ur-Leica’ – the revolutionary, iconic 35mm camera – began in the German capital. In 1959, near the Giesensdorfer Schule in Berlin, which was visited by Barnack as a child and where children are still taught today, a street was named ‘Barnackufer’ in honour of its famous pupil.

Approximately 3,200 photographers from a total of 108 countries submitted entries to the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2016 - almost twice as many entrants as in the previous year, with a record number of submissions. The portfolios of the twelve finalists in the categories ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ and ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award’ will be publicly announced on 15 June 2016 on the awards web site: www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com

The competition called for the submission of a self-contained series of between ten and twelve images in which the photographers perceive and document the interaction between people and their environment in a creative and ground-breaking style.

With prizes amounting to a total cash value of 80,000 euros, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award is one of the industry’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 receive a cash prize of 10,000 euros, and will also be presented with a Leica rangefinder camera and lens. In order to honour the work of all twelve finalists, this year’s competition will be the first to award cash prizes of 2,500 euros each for the work of a further ten photographers, in addition to the awards for the winners of the two main categories.

A special issue of LFI Magazine presenting the winners and finalists, and numerous examples of their work, will be published to accompany the Leica Oskar Barnack Award.

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