Summary
- Damir Faizulin won the 2026 Leica Oskar Barnack Award with a project about Dagestan.
- The former professional wrestler entered an international photography competition for the first time.
- Laila AnnMarie Stevens won the Newcomer Award and Valentina Sinis received the first Women Grant.
A professional wrestler until the age of 33, Damir Faizulin has now won the 2026 Leica Oskar Barnack Award on his first entry into an international photography competition.
His series Preserving Nature as Preserving Ourselves, about the people and environment of Dagestan, earned the main prize in the award’s 46th edition. The ceremony took place on 8 October at Leica Welt in Wetzlar, Germany.
From professional sport to a long-term photography project
Born in Uzbekistan in 1986, Faizulin moved to Russia with his family after the Soviet Union collapsed. Following his sporting career, he attended photography workshops and has pursued independent projects since 2020.
He first visited Dagestan as a tourist that year. In 2021, he moved there to understand everyday life and observe changes over time. A short visit was not enough: he wanted to understand the place’s rhythm and build relationships with its people.
Dagestan’s contrasts, told through pairs of photographs
Tourism, modern construction and the erosion of traditional practices are reshaping the relationship between mountain communities and their environment. Faizulin builds his visual narrative through pairs: village ruins sit alongside the framework of a shopping centre, traditional headscarves alongside a coat bearing the Chanel logo.
These juxtapositions give change a tangible form, connecting landscape with cultural identity. For the photographer, documenting remote communities can help people with different experiences better understand one another.
Stevens’s family and a new chapter for Sinis
Laila AnnMarie Stevens won the Newcomer Award for Clayton Sisterhood Project. Her black-and-white photographs centre on her two sisters and four nieces, who moved from Queens to a shared home in Clayton, North Carolina. The series explores connections across generations, queer family relationships and the legacy of Black women.
Valentina Sinis received the inaugural LOBA Women Grant to continue The Last Butterflies. Her long-term project in Iraqi Kurdistan follows Kurdish women who joined the armed resistance. The new chapter will examine how that struggle transforms connections to family, land and belonging, with a presentation planned for 2027.
The prizes and where to see the work
Faizulin receives €40,000 and Leica equipment worth €10,000. Stevens receives €10,000 and a Leica Q3. Sinis also receives €10,000 and a Q3, alongside support with developing and producing her project.
The five-member jury selected the winning series from more than 400 submissions. The main category drew on nominations from over 130 experts in around 50 countries, while the Newcomer Award involved 28 educational institutions across 18 countries.
The original LOBA 2026 shortlist featured 12 photographers. The final list fell to 11 following the removal of Valery Melnikov, who had been selected for his series from Mariupol.
The final shortlist’s 11 series are on display at the Ernst Leitz Museum until 18 February 2027. The accompanying LOBA 2026 catalogue includes the complete photographic series, interviews and background information, with further presentations at Leica Galleries and photography festivals to follow.
What we think
The career change catches the eye, but what stands out to us is Faizulin’s decision to live in the place he photographs. For anyone working on a personal project, his image pairings are worth considering too: sequence and contrast build the narrative as much as each individual photograph.
