BMW Photo Award Leipzig

The BMW Group and the Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig (MdbK) have been awarding the BMW Photo Award Leipzig since 2024. The first winners were Margit Emmrich, Susanne Keichel, and Stephan Takkides.
The BMW Photo Award Leipzig is awarded every two years to artists who either have a biographical connection to Leipzig and the surrounding region or who consciously engage with the city and its environment in their artistic work. A prerequisite is work in the medium of photography or related visual media. The three winners are selected by a rotating, international jury of nominating artists, curators, art school professors, and other experts. Each jury member nominates three artists. The prize is endowed with €5.000 per artist and includes a joint exhibition and catalogue at the Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig (MdbK).
BMW and the Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig (MdbK) have several objectives in awarding this prize. First, it aims to strengthen Leipzig as a photography hub and to support the photographers working there. Particular emphasis will be placed on emerging talent and on photographers who, in the jury's opinion, have not yet received adequate public recognition. Furthermore, the prize reflects the high regard for photography at the MdbK and the more than 20-year-long, trusting collaboration between the museum and BMW in this field. Finally, the exhibition of the winning works is intended to make an artistic contribution to the public's reflection on the city's history and present, as well as potential perspectives for its future.
The award ceremony will take place on June 10, 2026, as part of the opening of the exhibition (June 11–September 13, 2026).

THE JURY
The jury for the BMW Photo Award Leipzig 2026 met at the MdbK in early December. Its members were Florence Bourgeois (Director of Paris Photo), Cihan Çakmak (artist, Berlin), Adrian Sauer (artist and professor, Leipzig/Bielefeld), Sabine Schmid (curator of Villa Stuck, Munich) and Philipp Freytag (curator for photography and media art at the MdbK).