Leica's 2026 Shortlist Names 12 Photographers

The Leica Oskar Barnack Award published its 2026 shortlist on 5 August: twelve photographers across the main and Newcomer categories, selected from proposals by over 130 experts in 48 countries. The main prize carries 40,000 euros plus 10,000 euros of Leica equipment; the Newcomer award is 10,000 euros and a Leica Q3. Jurors include Jane'a Johnson of MoMA, Celina Lunsford of Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, photographer Paolo Pellegrin, Gu Zheng of Fudan University and Karin Rehn-Kaufmann of the Leica Galleries.

The list runs from Saher Alghorra in Gaza and Valery Melnikov in Mariupol to Anush Babajanyan on Central Asia's shrinking waters and David Sladek in a Slovak village. A new LOBA Women Grant adds project funding alongside the prize itself. That matters, because documentary photography's real constraint is rarely visibility; it is paying for two or three years of sustained work. The nomination model is closed, which raises the standard and quietly excludes whatever lies outside the nominators' network.