Entries are now being accepted for the 2009 Leica Oskar Barnack Award. The contest is open to all photographers. The visual theme focuses on the relationship between man and the environment.
Now on its 30th year, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award now incorporates a Newcomers Award for photographers aged 25 years and below.
The winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award will receive 5,000 euros or, alternatively, Leica camera equipment to the same value. The winner of the Newcomer Award will be awarded 2,500 euros. The prizes will be presented in the course of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie photographic festival held in Arles, France. Deadline for submission of entries is on March 1, 2009.
Oskar Barnack, photo above, was a German mechanic and industrial designer responsible for making the smaller, transportable 35mm camera. His pioneering 1914 design at Leitz Camera (Leica) led to the concept of exposing a small area of film to create a negative, then enlarging the image in a darkroom. (It used to require a wagon and a horse to transport your photographic gear.)
[Site: Leica Oskar Barnack Award]