Leica Camera USA Launches Initiative to Support Gender Diversity in Photography and  takes its longstanding appreciation of women in the photographic arts a step further with the announcement of the Leica Women Foto Project – a platform designed to support diversity and inclusion in photography through ongoing programs, events, and a new photography award dedicated to the Project that jointly serve to inspire narratives through the female perspective.

As part of the Leica Women Foto Project, Leica Camera USA is seeking three U.S. photographers to receive an award to support a personal project that is relevant to today’s social and political climate. The mission of the Leica Women Foto Project is to educate, encourage and empower photographers to demonstrate the importance and impact of a woman’s point of view. The award serves as a catalyst to reframe how we see, how we think, and how we express our visual narrative.

Applicants will be reviewed on the basis of the quality of photography, dedication to the medium of photography, the sophistication of the project, as expressed through the female perspective with narratives that broaden perspectives, ideas, and conversations on today’s social climate.
“This importance of diversity in visual storytelling strengthens the integrity of our collective story,” says Kiran Karnani, Director of Marketing for Leica Camera North America. “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”.

As part of the ongoing Leica Women Foto Project, Leica Camera USA is launching the inaugural Leica Women Foto Project Award, which will award three photographers $10,000 each to help enable the pursuit of a personal project. Candidates based in the United States who display the highest quality of photography, dedication to the medium of photography, the sophistication of the project, as expressed through the female perspective with narratives that broaden perspectives, ideas, and conversations on today’s social climate, will be selected as winners.
In addition to the financial award, each winner will receive a one-year loan of a Leica Q2. At the end of the term, the cameras will be passed on to the next three winners of the 2020 award to continue the legacy. A replacement Leica camera will be offered to the initial set of recipients to continue documenting their journey through the lens of a Leica.

Photo entries will be reviewed by a panel of renowned judges including:

• Karin Kaufmann Art Director & Chief Representative, Leica Galleries International
• Maggie Steber VII Agency photographer and Guggenheim fellow
• Elizabeth Avedon Independent curator, photo book and exhibition designer
• Laura Roumanos Executive producer and co-founder, United Photo Industries
• Deborah Willis University professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and author of Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery

Candidates for the award are requested to submit a series of 10 images from a personal or long-term project, made on any digital or film camera of any make, model or brand, with at least 4 images created between 2018-19. Alongside the images, applicants are required to submit a 500-word proposal describing their personal project and its relevance in today’s social climate, including detail of how the funds will be allocated.
Call for entries close on August 29, 2019.
Leica Camera USA will announce the three winning photographers on October 16 at www.us.leica-camera.com and on @LeicaCameraUSA on Facebook and Instagram. Must be 21 years or older to participate and reside in the United States.

More info on https://us.leica-camera.com