Announcing the Winners of the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards 2014

Paris, November 14, 2014—Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation are pleased to announce the winners of the 2014 edition of the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, celebrating the book’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. Hidden Islam by Nicoló Degiorgis is the winner of $10,000 in the First PhotoBook category. The selection for this year’s new category, Photography Catalogue of the Year, is the separately published, matched set of catalogues Christopher Williams: The Production Line of Happiness and Christopher Williams: Printed in Germany by Christopher Williams, while Imaginary Club by Oliver Sieber is the winner of PhotoBook of the Year. A special mention in that category goes to Vytautas V. Stanionis’s Photographs for Documents.

A jury in Paris selected this year’s winners: Rahaab Allana, curator at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts; Quentin Bajac, Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz Chief Curator at the Museum of Modern Art; Cléo Charuet, designer and director; Sebastian Hau, curator; and Pierre Hourquet, gallerist, publisher, and designer, who replaced Urs Stahel due to a delay in Mr. Stahel’s schedule.

The initial short-list selection was made by Julien Frydman, director of Paris Photo; Todd Hido, photographer and photobook maker; Lesley A. Martin, publisher of the Aperture Foundation book program and of The PhotoBook Review; Mutsuko Ota, editorial director of IMA magazine; and Anne Wilkes Tucker, photography curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

“Overall, it was more complicated than I thought,” says Cléo Charuet. “It was a hard task to judge, as it is a hard task to make a book: understanding the work of a photographer, understanding how to make a book attractive but well-suited to the subject.”

Winner of First PhotoBook 2014:
Nicoló Degiorgis, Hidden Islam

“This volume condenses years of research and interaction with members of Muslim communities in northern Italy. It is a sincere book that attempts to bridge local conditions in Italy to a larger European context—and a very strong example of attention to detail and overall concept in today’s independent bookmaking.”—Sebastian Hau

Winner of Photography Catalogue of the Year 2014:
Christopher Williams, Christopher Williams: The Production Line of Happiness and Christopher Williams: Printed in Germany

“This is a super pure, extremely well-done set of books: the use of bright colors, the perfect selection of papers, the perfect economy and rhythm. It’s very appropriate to what’s happening right now in terms of both design and photography. The book is a perfect response to the material.”—Cléo Charuet

Winner of PhotoBook of the Year 2014:
Oliver Sieber, Imaginary Club 

From a range of titles that included both emerging artists and contemporary masters competing for the PhotoBook of the Year prize, the jury selected Oliver Sieber’s Imaginary Club as an extremely well-crafted final manifestation of a photographer’s personal, in-depth project.

Special Mention:
Vytautas V. Stanionis, Photographs for Documents

“Photographs for Documents tells me that these are not just documents; they are lives that are shared on the page. The page becomes a stage. . . . The fragility and simplicity, the humility of the materials themselves, are also pivotal to the overall result.”—Rahaab Allana

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