Leica Camera is now accepting applications for the 2014 Oskar Barnack Award. This year new category was added and the value of the award was raised in honor of the Leica centennial in 2014:
Solms, Germany (November 18, 2013) – Leica Camera AG announces the commencement of the 2014 Leica Oskar Barnack Award and invites professional photographers to submit entries to this prestigious international photography competition. Applications and photographic projects are being accepted online from December 15, 2013 through January 31, 2014 at www.leica-oskar-barnack-preis.de. The awards will be presented in the course of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie photographic festival held in Arles, in the south of France, in July 2014.
In celebration of Leica’s centennial in 2014, for the first time ever, the legendary brand is doubling the value of the cash prizes from this year on. The winner of the main category of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award will be presented with a cash prize of 10,000 Euros in addition to premium-quality Leica M camera and lens, valued at an additional 10,000 Euros. The Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award for emerging talents aged 25 and under entails a cash prize of 5,000 Euros and a Leica M camera with a lens.
“Leica has a history of cultural engagement that goes back several decades, particularly in the fields of photography and music, as well as in the areas where the two overlap,” said jury member Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, general manager of Leica Galleries International. “Sponsorship of photography as a creative art form has a long tradition at Leica, and the promotion of emerging talents is a particularly important part of this. So, for the centennial of Leica photography, it was only logical that we should increase the value of the prizes for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award and the award for up-and-coming photographers.”
For the first time in the award’s history, there will be a prize presented in a third category – the Leica Oskar Barnack Public Award. The winner of this category will be determined from a shortlist of candidates selected by the jury in a vote organized in collaboration with www.i-shot-it.com, an online platform for photographic competitions. The winner of this category will receive a cash prize of 2,500 Euros. All of those who participate in the vote will be eligible to win a compact camera and other Leica prizes.
