Ceremony at the Ernst Leitz Museum: presentation of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award as part of the Celebration of Photography 2025

With a remarkable guest list and exciting programme, the Celebration of Photography 2025 represented yet another wonderful, centennial event, during which Leica’s history was lauded under the motto 100 Years of Leica: Witness to a Century. The Leica Oskar Barnack Award set the stage for fabulous festivities on October 9th. All previous LOBA winners were invited to Wetzlar to be part of the event marking the 45th edition of the prestigious photography competition. It was a large get-together, highlighted by a podium discussion and the evening presentation of the LOBA awards to this year’s winners: Alejandro Cegarra and Serghei Duve.

Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2025 
This year saw Alejandro Cegarra pick up the LOBA in the Main category. Born in Venezuela and living in Mexico, the photographer won the award for his series The Two Walls. The winner in the LOBA Newcomer category was German photographer Serghei Duve, for his series Bright Memory. For the 45th edition of the competition, around 120 experts from the international photography scene in approximately 50 countries, submitted their favourite works to the LOBA jury. Both winning series plus ten more made up the LOBA shortlist and are being showcased in an impressive exhibition at the Ernst Leitz Museum until January 11, 2026.