Announcing the Winners of the 2025 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards

(Friday, November 14, 2025, New York / Paris)—Paris Photo and Aperture are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards—an annual celebration of the photobook’s contributions to the evolving narrative of photography:

– Eleonora Agostini: A Study on Waitressing (Witty Books, Turin, Italy)—First PhotoBook award and $10,000

– Hicham Benohoud: The Classroom (Loose Joints Publishing, Marseille, France / London)—PhotoBook of the Year

– Generalized Visual Resistance: Photobooks and Liberation Movements, Catarina Boieiro and Raquel Schefer (ATLAS, Lisbon)—Photography Catalog of the Year

– Pia-Paulina Guilmoth: Flowers Drink the River (STANLEY/BARKER, London)—Jurors’ Special Mention

A jury met in Paris on November 13, 2025, to select this year’s winners. The jury included Coralie Gauthier, director of programming, communications, and events, Librairie 7L; Shanay Jhaveri, head of visual arts, Barbican Centre; Manuel Krebs, designer and publisher, NORM; Emily LaBarge, contributing writer, The New York Times; and Guinevere Ras, curator, Nederlands Fotomuseum.

“Across the thirty-seven books that we had the incredible opportunity to spend time with and deliberate on, some things that surfaced were a sense of investigating the archive and intergenerational conversations,” says juror Shanay Jhaveri. “The shortlist and the winners show the vitality of the form of the book itself, one that is essential today in a culture where images have been dematerialized.”

The winner of the PHOTOGRAPHY CATALOG OF THE YEAR, Generalized Visual Resistance: Photobooks and Liberation Movements, edited by Catarina Boieiro and Raquel Schefer, is a vigorous anthology about the links between photography and anticolonial politics from the 1960s to the 1980s, when Portugal’s former colonies in Africa fought for independence. “It’s a catalog that celebrates the power of books,” says juror Coralie Gauthier. “It is an atlas, liberating voices in a strong and powerful way across generations.”

The Classroom, by Hicham Benohoud, was selected as the PHOTOBOOK OF THE YEAR. A model for creativity, and of making the most of what you have, the book brings together a series of improvised photoshoots, transforming a four-hour class in Marrakech, Morocco, into a joyful site of photographic ingenuity and hands-on learning. “The book succeeds in giving space to the images in a way that allows discovery and understanding,” notes juror Manuel Krebs. “It is at the same time documentation and poetry. It’s inspiring.”

A Study on Waitressing, by Eleonora Agostini, a timely, multilayered interrogation of the roles that women are asked to play within the regime of self-presentation in the labor market, was selected by the jury as the winner of the FIRST PHOTOBOOK AWARD. “There was a consensus among the jury that this book is at once serious and playful, progressive as a photobook, but also elegant and composed, and a powerful yet subtle statement about femininity within the workforce,” praises juror Emily LaBarge. “This is a study, a performance, a document, a kind of door that many people can walk through.”

The final jury also chose to award a JURORS’ SPECIAL MENTION to Flowers Drink the River, by Pia-Paulina Guilmoth. “Guilmoth’s book stands out for its sensory intensity and emotional precision. She transforms the everyday into a near-spiritual experience using color, light, and atmosphere as an extension of memory and feeling,” says juror Guinevere Ras. “In a moment when much of contemporary photography leans toward distance or theory, Pia-Paulina Guilmoth offers an important perspective on intimacy, nature, and desire.”

This year, Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards received over one thousand books from fifty-five countries around the world, including standout entries from Ecuador, Lesotho, Uruguay, and Vietnam. On September 17–19, the 2025 shortlist jury met in New York for three concentrated days of review and deliberation by an international team: Brendan Embser, senior editor, Aperture; Florian Koenigsberger, technologist and photographer; Paul Moakley, executive producer, The New Yorker; Anna Planas, artistic director, Paris Photo; and Keisha Scarville, artist.

To view the full shortlist, visit https://aperture.org/editorial/announcing-the-2025-photobook-awards-shortlist.

A presentation of the thirty-seven books shortlisted for the 2025 PhotoBook Awards is currently on view at Paris Photo through November 16 and will travel to Printed Matter in New York City in January 2026, and then to the Leipzig Photobook Festival, with additional venues to be announced.

A selection of books shortlisted for the Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards is available for purchase at the Delpire & Co booth (J02) during Paris Photo, and afterwards at the Delpire & Co shop in Paris. To purchase the books online, visit this link.

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About the 2025 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards
The Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards were founded in 2012 and consist of three prizes in the following categories:

First PhotoBook: A $10,000 prize is awarded to the photographer(s)/artist(s) whose first finished, publicly available photobook is judged to be the best of the year. Twenty books from this category were selected for the shortlist and presented to the jury for final selection, and exhibited during Paris Photo.

PhotoBook of the Year: This prize is awarded to the photographer(s)/artist(s) and publisher(s) responsible for the photobook judged to be the best of the year. Ten books from this category were selected for the shortlist and presented to the jury for final selection, and exhibited during Paris Photo.

Photography Catalog of the Year: Added to the PhotoBook Awards in 2014, this prize is awarded to the publication(s), publisher(s), and/or organizing institution(s) responsible for the exhibition catalog or museum publication judged to be the best of the year. Six books from this category were selected for the shortlist and presented to the jury for final selection, and exhibited during Paris Photo.

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About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society. For more information, visit aperture.org

About Paris Photo
Paris Photo is the world’s largest international art fair dedicated to the photographic medium. An annual event for collectors, professionals, artists, and enthusiasts, Paris Photo offers its visitors the most qualitative and diverse selection of artworks alongside an ambitious public program with leading figures in the field.

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Press Contacts:
Lauren Van Natten, Aperture, publicity@aperture.org
Marie Crouzet, Paris Photo, marie.crouzet@rxglobal.com