LEICA Fotografie International & BarTur Photo Award

Ann Lesley
Bar-Tur
Photo Award

Celebrating pioneering and contemporary women behind the lens.

Supported by LEICA Fotografie International and the BarTur Photo Award.

Courtesy of Veronique de Viguerie

The Ann Lesley Bar-Tur Photo Award aims to celebrate the breadth of women photographers who are doing exceptional work, and to amplify their perspectives where sexism still hinders equal access to this critical industry and art form.

Winners will receive a monetary prize from the USD 20,000 BarTur prize pool and equipment loan from Leica Fotografie International. The BarTur Photo Award also offers winners mentorship and exhibitions across Europe. Anyone who identifies as a woman, non-binary, or gender-queer is encouraged to submit to the award, and photographers of colour and from the Global South are particularly encouraged.

Courtesy of Irina Werning

Women in photography have faced patriarchal discrimination for as long as the medium has existed. Though things are gradually shifting in the contemporary moment, a gap in access, recognition, pay, and opportunity still exists. The award is named in honor of Ann Lesley, late wife and mother of founders Amnon and Armon Bar-Tur. As a woman artist in London and New York in the 1970s-1980s, she often experienced sexist discrimination and unequal access to opportunity. The award is dedicated to her memory, and to all women photographers past and present who don’t receive the access and acknowledgement they deserve.