Leica Oskar Barnack Award
Mikhail Subotzky was recently announced as the winner of Leica’s prestigious 30th annual Oskar Barnack Award. The winning portfolio was entitled ‘Beaufort West’ and the photographs were taken in the South African town of the same name. Subotzky started out with the intention of lifting the skirt of crime and punishment and the secrets that lie behind the bars of South Africa’s prison cells. However, upon meeting the inmates, the work took on a much more personal exploratory tone, and the photographs begin to highlight the importance of self-awareness and compassion. The award was given by an international jury and the criteria to be filled were that submissions must “capture and express the relationship between man and the environment in the most graphic form in a sequence of up to 12 images. Entry submissions must be a self-contained series of images in which the photographer perceives and documents the interaction between man and the environment with acute vision and contemporary visual style – creative, groundbreaking and unintrusive.” 
More info at the Leica Oskar Barnack Award website
