The Nominators
A group of more than 120 respected photography experts from around 50 countries – including curators, gallery managers, art directors, picture editors and numerous photographers – made up the body of nominators who submitted entries for the LOBA 2025 main category award:
Mustafah Abdulaziz (USA), photographer, LOBA winner 2019
Farah Al Qasimi (United Arab Emirates/USA), photographer
José Luis Amores (Spain), Director of EFTI
Ana María Arévalo Gosen (Venezuela), photographer, LOBA winner 2021
Ragnar Axelsson (Iceland), photographer
Carla Bacelar Ferreira (Portugal), Vice-President of the Board, Director and Producer of Encontros da Imagem, Braga
Ofir Barak (Israel), photographer
Pablo Bartholomew (India), photographer
Dimitri Beck (France), Director of Photography Polka Magazine
Pauline Benthede (Sweden), Vice President Global Exhibitions Fotografiska
Julio Bittencourt (Brazil), photographer, LOBA Newcomer winner 2007
Daniel Boetker-Smith (Australia), Director of Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Melbourne
Manila Camarini (Italy), Senior Picture Editor, D – la Repubblica and DLUI Magazine
Krzysztof Candrowicz (Poland/Portugal), curator and researcher
Koral Carballo (Mexico), photojournalist, documentary photographer, visual artist
Claudi Carreras Guillén (Spain), photo editor, curator
Elinor Carucci (USA/Israel), fine art photographer
Alejandro Cegarra (Venezuela), photographer, LOBA Newcomer winner 2014
Gintaras Česonis (Lithuania), curator of the Kaunas Photography Gallery
Zelda Cheatle (United Kingdom), curator, editor
Stefen Chow (Malaysia/China), photographer
Simindokht Dehghani (Iran), Director of the Ag Galeria, Teheran
Arturo Delgado (Mexico), Founder and curator of Galería Almanaque
Misha Domozhilov (Russia), photographer, curator
Benedetta Donato (Italy), curator, Director of the RCIPA (Romano Cagnoni International Photojournalism Award)
Roxanne Doucet (USA/France), curator
Stinus Duch (Denmark), publisher and Founder of Disko Bay
Yasemin Elçi (Turkey), curator, journalist
Nariman El-Mofty (Egypt), photojournalist
Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo (Columbia), photographer, editor at Raya Editorial
Ismail Ferdous (Bangladesh), photographer, LOBA winner 2023
Brad Feuerhelm (United Kingdom), artist, curator, editor of contemporary photography and art magazine American Suburb X
Gonçalo Fonseca (Portugal), photographer, LOBA Newcomer winner 2020
Frédérique Founès (France), manager of the Signatures photo agency
Alice Gabriner (USA), photo editor
Cale Garrido (Spain/Germany), curator, photo editor, author
Sebastian Gil Miranda (Argentina), documentary photographer, filmmaker, visual artist
Laura González-Flores (Mexico), researcher at the Institute for Aesthetic Research, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Yumi Goto (Japan), researcher, consultant, editor, curator
Claude Goulet (Canada), Founder and Director of Les Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie
Gu Zheng (China), Professor at Fudan University School of Journalism, Shanghai
Hector Guerrero (Mexico), photojournalist, photo editor, film-maker
Per Gylfe (USA), Director of Education at the International Center of Photography (ICP)
David Hagger (Australia), curator
Markus Hartmann (Germany), Founder of Hartmann Books and Hartmann Projects
Yining He (China), researcher, curator, writer
Mathias Heng (France), photographer
Stephanie Herrmann (Germany), Curatorial Director Zephyr, Head of Collection Forum International Photography Reiss-Engelhorn-Museum
Hu Jiawen (China), Manager of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre
Caroline Hunter (United Kingdom), Picture Editor for The Guardian Saturday Magazine
Claudia Ioan (Italy), photographer, curator
Zeynab Jahan (Azerbaijan), curator, editor, author
Joanna Janisiewicz (Poland), lecturer at Akademia Anima Mundi
Toomas Järvet (Estonia), curator, gallerist, Co-founder of the Juhan Kuus Foundation
Ciril Jazbec (Slovenia), photographer, LOBA Newcomer winner 2013
Vilma Jurkute (United Arab Emirates), Executive Director of Alserkal Initiatives
Sarah Kahloun (Mexico/France), publishing director
Jeong Eun Kim (South Korea), publisher
Simone Klein (Germany), independent appraiser and advisor specializing in photography
Gary Knight (United Kingdom), Founder of the VII Agency
Martin Kollar (Slovak Republic), photographer, cinematographer, LOBA winner 2014
Matjaž Krivic (Slovenia), photographer
Justine Kurland (USA), fine art photographer
Trish Lambe (Ireland), Artistic Director Photo Museum Ireland
Lois Lammerhuber (Austria), Founder of the Festival La Gacilly-Baden Photo, owner of Edition Lammerhuber
Eyal Landesman (Israel), Founder and Artistic Director of the Israeli Photography Festival
Patricia Lanza (USA), art consultant for photography and exhibitions
Lau Tung-Pui (Hong Kong), curator
Olivier Laurent (USA), International Photo Editor, The Washington Post
David Y. Lee (USA), Senior Program Officer, Storytelling at the National Geographic Society
Steven Lee (Malaysia), photographer, Director of the Kuala Lumpur Photography Awards
Sarah Leen (USA), photo editor
Anastasia Leonova (Ukraine), publisher, art manager, curator, Co-founder of IST Publishing
Luca Locatelli (Italy), photographer, LOBA winner 2020
Celina Lunsford (Germany), Artistic Director Foto Forum Frankfurt, Honorary Professor
Santiago Martínez Alberú (Mexico), Suave magazine
Nadja Masri (Germany), photo editor, consultant, lecturer
Sergey Melnitchenko (Ukraine), photographer, Founder of the MYPH School of Photography, teacher, curator, LOBA Newcomer winner 2017
Wiktoria Michałkiewicz (Portugal/Poland/Sweden), artists’ agent, Founder of REZO Agency & Art Advisory
Patricia Morvan (France), Cultural Projects and Exhibitions, Agency VU’
Mina Mostefa (France/Morocco), Founder and Director of the Rencontres photo de Tanger
Igor Mukhin (Russia), photographer, teacher at the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia
Saeed Nassouri (United Arab Emirates), photographer
Veronica Nicolardi (Italy), Director Cortona on the Move and Co-director Yeast Photo Festival
Russ O’Connell (United Kingdom), Picture Editor The Sunday Times Magazine
Naoko Ohta (Japan), Founder of Tokyo Curiosity
Heike Ollertz (Germany), Managing Director FREELENS e. V.
Silvia Omedes (Spain), curator, photo editor
Miguel Ángel Ortega Bugarin (Mexico), Co-Director of FOCOLab and the Lateral Gallery
Søren Pagter (Denmark), educational coordinator at the Photography department of the Danish School of Media and Photojournalism (DMJX)
Jens Pepper (Poland), curator, writer, photographer
Benjamin Petit (USA), documentary photographer, Co-founder of Dysturb
Max Pinckers (Belgium), photographer, LOBA Winner 2018
Rui Prata (Portugal), Director of the Imago Festival, Lisbon
Kateryna Radchenko (Ukraine), curator, Director of Odesa Photo Festival
Isidro Ramírez (Singapore), photographer, lecturer with the LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
Federico Rios Escobar (Columbia), photographer
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (France), photographer, Founder of the Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film
Carla Rosorius (Germany), Director of Photography Geo magazine
Laura Roumanos (USA), Executive Director and Co-founder of Photoville
Gulnara Lyabib Samoilova (USA), photographer, Founder and curator of Women Street Photographers
Jacopo Santini (Italy), photographer, lecturer
Amélie Schneider (Germany), Head of the Picture Editorial Department Die Zeit
Roos Schouw (Netherlands), owner, publisher, Editor-in-Chief at Focus Publishing
Aaron Schuman (USA), photographer, writer, curator, Professor
Laura Serani (France), curator, author
Shi Hantao (China), curator, publisher
Alex Snyder (USA), Senior Photo Editor at The Nature Conservancy, communications for The Photo Society
Horst Stasny (Austria), photographer
Enrico Stefanelli (Italy), Artistic Director Photolux Festival
Gilles Steinmann (Switzerland), Director of Photography Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Olga Sviblova (Russia), Director of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
Kevin V. Ton (Czech Republic), photographer
Katrin Trautner (Germany), photo editor Geo Magazine
Gaia Tripoli (Italy), Photo Editor The New York Times
Johan Trujillo Argüelles (Mexico), Cultural manager, educator, curator, Director of the Centro de la Imagen
István Virágvölgyi (Hungary), Curator at the Robert Capa Center
Vineet Vohra (India), street photographer
Fiona Wachera (Kenya), media strategist, Photo Editor Everyday Africa
James Wellford (USA), Senior Photo Editor for Global Issues at National Geographic
Kaitlin Yarnall (USA), Chief Storytelling Officer, National Geographic Society
Sinem Yoruk (Turkey), entrepreneur and consultant, Qatar Museums, Tasweer Photo Festival, Founder of Elipsis Projects
Rony Zakaria (Indonesia), photographer
Adolf Zika (Czech Republic), photographer
The Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award 2025 will be selected by the jury in collaboration with and through the proposals of 20 international institutions and universities from 17 countries:
Australia: RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) School of Art
Austria: Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
Canada: Toronto Metropolitan University
Denmark: Danish School of Media and Photojournalism (DMJX), Aarhus/Copenhagen
Germany: Hochschule Hannover, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Photojournalism and Documentary Photography
Germany: OKS, Ostkreuzschule, Berlin
Indonesia: PannaFoto Institute, Bekasi
Italy: RUFA, Rome University of Fine Arts
Japan: Tokyo Polytechnic University
Kenya: University of Nairobi
Mexico: Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City
Puerto Rico: University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
Russia: Docdocdoc, School of Modern Photography, St Petersburg
Russia: Rodchenko Art School, Moscow
South Korea: Chung-Ang University, Seoul
Spain: LENS Escuela de Artes Visuales, Madrid
Switzerland: School of Design Bern and Biel
United Kingdom: London College of Communication
USA: Tufts University, Boston
USA: University of California, Berkeley