11 outstanding photos of the Lead Awards 2015

For more than 20 years, the Lead Awards has been selecting the best works published in German newspapers, magazines and online throughout the year - and that includes choosing the most stunning photographs.

Every one of the 56 photos submitted this year deserves to win an award. The categories Reportage Photography, Mood and Fashion Photography, Portrait Photography, Architectural Photography and the Photo of the Year collect the year's most impressive photos found in the German media.

The jury said this year's photographs offered a previously unseen spectrum of emotions, ranging from enthusiasm over the Soccer Cup to grief and desperation in troubled regions around the world.

The public was also involved in selecting the Photo of the Year. For weeks, users had the opportunity to vote online for the photograph they liked best. The winner was French documentary photographer Olivier Jobard, with a diffuse shot of Afghan refugees in a boat heading to the Greek coast.

All of the works are on display in an exhibition at Hamburg's Deichtorhallen until November 9, 2015.