Leica Camera USA launches new Leica Women Foto Project alongside inaugural photo contest

posted Saturday, August 3, 2019 at 8:00 AM EDT

Leica Camera USA has announced the Leica Women Foto Project, a new a platform designed to foster inclusion and support diversity in photography through programs, events and a new photography award. Leica hopes to inspire new narratives from the female perspective and spotlight women in photography who have unfortunately long been underrepresented in the industry.

The Leica Women Foto Award is now open to entries from legal US residents until August 29. There will be three recipients of the inaugural award announced this October and each winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 USD to be used on a long-term photo project, plus a one year loan of a Leica Q2 and a replacement camera later to be added to their photography kits. Interested applications are requested to submit a series of 10 images, with at least 4 of the images being created in 2018 or 2019. Applicants will also need to submit a 500-word proposal describing their personal project, its relevant to today's social climate and outline how the $10,000 would be allocated if they were selected as a winner. The five-judge panel will include: Karin Kaufmann, Maggie Steber, Elizabeth Avedon, Laura Roumanos and Deborah Willis. You can learn more about applying for the award by clicking here.

Of the Leica Women Foto Project in general, Kiran Karnani, Leica Camera North America's Director of Marketing, said the following:

This importance of diversity in visual storytelling strengthens the integrity of our collective story. Visual expressions through myriad lenses challenge and embrace ideas that drive important conversations. We enable growth through an expansion of thought when we actively support inclusivity through the photographic medium. With the Leica Women Foto Project, we aim to embolden photographers to think outside one’s own point of view, support underrepresented voices to speak their visual languages, and celebrate new ways of seeing.