Photobook of the Year winners announced
The winners of the Australian Photobook of the Year Awards 2016 and the New Zealand Photobook of the Year Awards 2016 were recently announced, the results proving that antipodean photo book creation is at an internationally competitive standard, and has inspired cross-cultural collaborations.
The winning book of the Australian award was Astres Noir – a collaboration between Melbourne-based German photo artist, Katrin Koenning, Bangladeshi photographer, Sarker Protick, and French publisher, Chose Commune. “The judges were drawn to the mesmerising photos of the everyday, and the way they were transformed into new and unexpected forms,“ stated Judging Chair Heidi Romano, “creating a book that’s surprising and surreal, with a sequence that is elliptical and perfectly strange.”
Astres Noir had already received significant critical acclaim since it was published in May 2016, appearing 14 times across 88 international ‘best of 2016 photo book’ lists, including the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards (First Book) and Prix Nadar shortlists. As winner of the Australian Photobook of the Year Awards 2016, Koenning won $1,000 cash and $4,000 in Momento Pro printing credit, to assist with the promotion of her existing work and the production of future publications.
The New Zealand Photobook of the Year Award 2016 was shared between an established photographer, and a recent photography studies graduate. Rannoch was self-published by photographer and lecturer, Simon Devitt, in an edition of 1,000 including a limited edition of 100 with a photographic print. Jonty Valentine, Judging Chair, described it as, “a thoughtful architectural essay marrying an exploration of the building with an intimate portrait of New Zealand arts philanthropist Sir James Wallace’s life within the space."
New Zealand’s joint-winner, Evangeline Davis, produced Touchy for her final assessment at Massey University, Wellington. It is a diary style publication exploring the transition from girlhood to womanhood that confronts distorted ideals of beauty and femininity. The judges felt it was, "well resolved and carefully edited. The design playfully used repetition, close ups, full bleed pages, and double page spreads to present multiple narrative threads." Devitt and Davis each receive $500 cash and $2,000 in printing credit.
The judging panel that included experts in art, photography, design and publishing also commended seven finalists. They reviewed both a digital file and the physical book, and were asked to reward the suitability of the photography, design and packaging for the book’s intended purpose, rather than excellence in these areas. The book also had to extend the meaning of the photographs, to create a new artwork rather than just a printed record.
Australian Photobook of the Year Awards 2016 Finalists
- Astres Noirs by Katrin Koenning, Sarker Protick + Chose Commune (Winner)
- Elsewhere by Fuad Osmancevic (Commended)
- J.W. by Clare Steele (Commended)
- Memorandum by Ana Paula Estrada (Commended)
- Some Want Quietly by Drew Pettifer + M.33 (Commended)
- Surface Phenomena by Bartolomeo Celestino + Perimeter Editions (Commended)
- Bird by Gary Heery
- Courts 02 by Ward Roberts + Editions
- Elemental by Rohan Hutchinson
- Golden Triangle by Hannah Nikkelson
- Kinglake by Jade Byrnes
- Two Pandanus Trees Side by Side by Aaron Claringbold
Click here to view the results
New Zealand Photobook of the Year Awards 2016 Finalists
- Rannoch by Simon Devitt (Joint Winner)
- Touchy by Evangeline Davis (Joint Winner)
- As the Road Bends by Blair Barclay (Commended)
- Duplex City by Blair Kitchener (Commended)
- Conversations With My Mother by Shelley Ashford
- R&S Satay Noodle House by Sally Young
- Soap and Water by Bronwyn McKenzie
- Someone's Mana by Michael Krzanich + Hatje Cantz
- The Shops by Peter Black + Luncheon Sausages Books
- Watching the fishes go by by Niki Boon
Click here to view the results
About the award
In 2011, Australian print-on-demand book producers Momento Pro established the Photobook of the Year Awards to celebrate excellence in photo book creation, and to showcase Australian photography to local and international audiences. In 2016 they extended the awards to New Zealand. Over the last six years $70,000 in cash and print prizes have been awarded to antipodean photographers.