Oskar Barnack, that is. Leica Camera invites professional photographers to submit entries for the 2013 Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Submissions accepts online from  January 15 – March 1, 2013. Details will be posted:  www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com

The winner gets a Leica M camera with lens and cash . The Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award for (prospective) professional photographers 25 and under will be awarded a Leica rangefinder camera complete with lens. The awards will be presented during the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie photography festival in Arles, France from July 1 – 7, 2013.

The jury includes: Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, artistic director of the Leica Galerie in Salzburg; Alain Genestar, editor of Polka Magazin; Markus Schaden, publisher and curator, and photographers Klavdij Sluban and Peter Turnley.

Oskar Barnack (1879-1936) was the inventor of the Leica Camera. It began as a way to test exposure for motion pictures (same 35mm film). From 1914 on, Barnack used the prototype camera he developed, the so-called Ur-Leica, for still photography. The history of photojournalism is closely tied to his invention. Beginning in 1925, compact and easily-carried Leica cameras  enabled entirely new styles of photography and decisive moments.