The LUMIX Festival presents and reflects young, socially engaged 21st-century visual journalism that actively investigates political, cultural, social, ecological and technological processes. With the modes of expression inherent to journalistic, transmedial narrative formats, the festival focuses on current perspectives of the documentary, understanding these to be media of active involvement in global debates.

The 80 best projects from the two categories (»Picture Series« and »Digital Storytelling«) will be presented in exhibitions throughout the Festival. An international team of curators will select the projects to be exhibited.

On the occasion of the 7th LUMIX Festival for Young Photojournalism, we invite young photojournalists to take part in the competition for the FREELENS Award, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. Two further projects will be distinguished, each with an honourable mention and 1,000 euros. Furthermore, we will confer the Lammerhuber Award, the UmweltDruckerei Sustainability Award as well as the HAZ Audience Award for a photo series selected from the exhibition. For the most outstanding multimedia web story, Panasonic will confer the LUMIX Digital Storytelling Award, which is endowed with 5,000 euros.

An international jury will distinguish the winners of the aforementioned awards and prizes.

You can find more information about the festival on our website www.fotofestival-hannover.de.

Requirements

Photojournalists no older than 35 may submit their projects from 1 November 2019 until 31 January 2020. The submitted projects may not be older than two years or must have been completed within the past two years. The projects may have been created either by individual authors or as collaborative works. It is possible to apply for both categories (»Picture Series« and »Digital Storytelling«). Submitted projects must have been created after 1 November 2017.

Each applicant or team can submit one project for each of the two categories (»Picture Series« and »Digital Storytelling«). The project may already have been published, shown, or distinguished. However, this is in no way a precondition of participation. Projects previously submitted to the LUMIX Festival for Young Visual Journalism in Hanover may be resubmitted if they have undergone significant further development in the period since the last submission.

Participants may apply for both the exhibition program and its associated photo awards, as well as for the LUMIX Digital Storytelling Award.

If you have any questions you can reach us via email at applications@fotofestival-hannover.de.

Category »Picture Series«

The project submitted in this category must comprise at least 12 photos, but no more than 30. Group projects are expressly permitted. The projects may already have been published or distinguished at other festivals; however, this is in no way a precondition for participation.

Applications must include Hi-Res data (300 dpi) of the images, with complete captions and an exhibition text, as well as the author’s personal biography and portrait. Applications will be considered only when all of the above-described details, information and elements are complete.

Projects in this category will automatically take part in the competitions for the FREELENS Award, the Lammerhuber Award, the UmweltDruckerei Sustainability Award as well as the HAZ Audience Award.

Category »Digital Storytelling«

Submissions for this competition can be digital stories or documentaries that consist primarily of photographs or moving pictures and are available online. This includes web videos, multimedia reportages, interactive slideshows, 360-degree videos and VR apps as well as Instagram stories and YouTube series. The online documentation of transmedial projects is also permitted. Written or spoken texts must be in either English or German. Submissions must be available via online links. In the case that a project is not publicly available, the jury must have access via a password. Additionally the submission has to include 5 to 25 screenshots or pictures from your project.

Projects in this category will automatically take part in the competition for the LUMIX Digital Storytelling Award.

The members of both jurys include among others:

Frauke Böger / Spiegel Online
Andrea Holzherr / Magnum Photos
Prof. Wilfried Köpke / Hochschule Hannover
Lois Lammerhuber / Edition Lammerhuber
Markus Matthes / Panasonic
Kay Meseberg / Arte
Søren Pagter / Danish School of Media and Journalism
Stefanie Rejzek / Freelens
Malin Schulz / Die Zeit
Barbara Stauss / Mare
Gilles Steinmann / Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Andreas Trampe / Stern