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2026 will see the launch of the LOBA Women Grant. As part of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, the new category for project funding is aimed explicitly at women photographers.
With the substantial support of the LOBA Women Grant, photographers will have a chance to realise a new project idea and series of pictures, which will then be introduced within the context of the LOBA. This means that, in future, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award will not only feature awards in the Main and Newcomer categories, but also an additional LOBA Women Grant category. Unlike the already existing categories, this new one will select a project idea that will be presented for the first time each following year, as part of the LOBA. This new aspect of support for photography is another item on the agenda for the Leica anniversary in 2025: throughout the year, the anniversary of the first serially-produced Leica I is being celebrated under the motto 100 Years of Leica: Witness to a Century.
Building on the experience of the Leica Women Photo Award, which was launched by Leica Camera USA in 2019, the new LOBA Women Grant is adopting an even more global perspective. Women photographers around the world are encouraged to bring their projects to the attention of the general public. Acknowledging the continuing gender imbalance within photography, the LOBA Women Grant aims to provide international recognition and visibility for women photographers.