Jan Grarup won the prize for his work Haiti Aftermath, which focuses on the consequences of the 12 January 2010 earthquake that claimed between 92,000 and 220,000 depending on various estimates.

Grarup travelled to Haiti on an assignment for various magazines to document the catastrophic consequences of the natural disaster, say the award's organisers. "He sees his mission as a photographer as much more than the simple depiction of the current situation. The aim of his black-and-white shots is to generate emotion. The earthquake took everything the Haitians had: their belongings, the roof over their heads, their friends and relatives. Their lives lie in ruins. Fear and despair is written on their faces."

For his work, Grarup will be presented, as part of a 05 July ceremony at the Rencontres d'Arles festival in France, with a Leica M9 camera and lenses worth  €9500, as well as a cash prize of €5000.

Chinese photographer Jing Huang has received the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award for his work Pure of Sight, which "isn't dedicated to any subject in particular," with each of his 12 black-and-white images telling its own, unique story.

"The young photographer has discovered a way to lend enormous depth to familiar and seemingly trivial things," say the organisers. "Huang explains that he could never be a good writer because he finds it difficult to find the right words. And that is why the camera is his eye, and photography is the medium to express his innermost thoughts."

Huang, who was born in 1987, wins a Leica M9 camera with lenses.

Both photographers were chosen from more than 2000 entries originating from 89 countries, with the majority of the submissions coming from Germany, China, France, Russia and the US.

They were selected by a jury that included photographer Stanley Greene; Mark Rykoff, picture editor at TIME.com; Anna Gripp, editor-in-chief at Photonews; Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, creative director of the Leica Gallery in Salzburg; and Dr Andreas Kaufmann, chairman of the supervisory board at Leica Camera AG.