Germany –
Final jury for the FotoBookFestival 2014 Dummy Award were: Deanne Templeton, Cristina de Middel, Todd Hido, Carlos Spottorno, Manik Katyal, Gunnar Kettler and Benjamin Füglister. The winner was announced on Thursday August 21th, at The PhotoBookMuseum Cologne.
The first prize goes to Irina Rozovsky for her book Island on my mind(Featured).
This shortlisted dummy impressed the jury thanks to its iconic Photography, thoughtful editing, and its uncomplicated binding and layout. The book was put together and presented in a simple way, which was what made it the jury’s favourite. Interestingly enough, the book does not claim to be on Cuba, hence leaving a sense of curiosity in the reader to dig deep inside the book.
The 2nd prize goes to Mafalda Rakoš, Iuna Vieira, Raphael Reichl for their book 3rd Generation.
This is a collective social documentary photo-book project which creates a dialogue on the lives of young Israelis and Palestinians using a very individualistic and personal approach. Made by two 19- and 20-year-old girlfriends (one worked in Palestine, one in Israel), the aim of this project is to present an honest perspective by the people of Israel and Palestine without touching on the conflict-related issues involved in all the stereotypes we know. 3rd Generation does great justice to reality on the ground of this conflict zone, which it presents in a very informative way. The book is divided into two parts – one for the Israeli protagonists and one for the Palestinians – which are connected by a textile bound??? band?? at the upper edge. Through this concept, both narratives are linked and separate at the same time. A very unique, interesting and highly recommendable book.
The 3rd prize goes to Hajime Kimura for his Scrap Book.
This very simply made scrap book is a great example of an ideal dummy which can be produced without perfect skills, materials and techniques. Hajime Kimura’s Scrap Book contains photocopied images, a few drawings and texts glued in a cheap notebook. It could be a private notebook, a diary, a booklet with personal snapshots and visual notes. This scrap book is mysterious and fascinating enough to be a treasure-trove of simplicity.
The jury was very happy with the overall high quality and great diversity of the shortlisted photobooks. As a piece of advice, the jury recommends all dummy book-makers not to overdo their entries by adding too many elements, like inserts, heavy cloth covers and perfect professional printing and binding. We would like to encourage all entrants whose books were not chosen this time to keep going, and to try again next year. One of the aims of the Dummy Award is to raise the quality of the photographic book. We appreciate all ideas and suggestions in support of this goal.
