Paris Photo and Aperture are excited to announce the shortlist for the 2023 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards—an annual celebration of the photobook’s contributions to the evolving narrative of photography. Now in its eleventh year, the award recognizes excellence in three major categories of photobook publishing: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photography Catalog of the Year.

This year, Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards received 961 books from sixty-one countries, including stand-out entries from Nepal, New Zealand, Denmark, and Japan. On September 20–22, 2023, the shortlist jury met in New York for three concentrated days of review and deliberation by an international team: Deirdre Donohue, assistant director of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, the New York Public Library; Alex Lin, creative director and owner, Studio Lin; Lesley A. Martin, editor at large, Aperture; RenĂ©e Mussai, artistic director, the Walther Collection; and Anna Planas, artistic director, Paris Photo.

Anna Planas, artistic director of Paris Photo, and Florence Bourgeois, director of Paris Photo, jointly noted: “The PhotoBook Awards pursue, this year, their long-term commitment and support for photography books. We are very excited to celebrate this year’s exhibition with a selection that offers a source for discovery and enchantment to all photobook lovers. The PhotoBook Awards shortlist will feature thirty-five of the most relevant publications from the past year, giving an international overview of the diversity and richness of today’s production.”

Shortlist jury member Alex Lin added: “As a book designer, I truly appreciate how rare it is for a competition to so carefully judge both a book’s form and content. Having worked on Sasha Phyars-Burgess’s Untitled, the 2021 recipient of the First PhotoBook Prize, I was able to witness firsthand the impact and significance that this recognition gave to both a small publisher and to the photographer. I personally experienced the joy and satisfaction that the Prize can bring to publishers who work with limited budgets but with pure passion.”

A final jury gathered at Paris Photo to select winners for all three prizes. From there, shortlisted and winning titles were exhibited in Paris, and will tour internationally thereafter.

To view the shortlist click here.


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Contents:
The exhibition includes 35 shortlisted books. Also included are extensive video flip-throughs of the publications.

Participation Fee:
Please contact Annette Booth, Director of Exhibitions Management at abooth@aperture.org

Itinerary:
Grand Palais EphĂ©mère at Paris Photo, Paris, November 9 – 12, 2023
Printed Matter, New York, January 11 – March 3, 2024
Helphoto, Helsinki Photo Festival, TBD