The European Publishers Award for Photography was run for 22 years by a number of European publishers, who simultaneously published a photobook of each year's winning portfolio in their own languages.
The award was for work on a particular subject that had not previously been published as a book. In its later years it was open to photographers anywhere: European nationality or residence was not required.[1]
The award began in 1994 with six publishers. At the time of its apparent end in 2015, two publishers, Dewi Lewis (Britain) and Peliti Associati (Italy) had participated every year since the start. In Germany, Edition Braus published the award-winner from 1994 until 2010 (in 1998 and 1999, as Umschau Braus); Kehrer Verlag took over in 2011. In France, Marval published the winner from 1994 to 1996, in 1997 and 1998, and Actes Sud thereafter. In Spain, Lunwerg Editores published the winner from 1994 to 2010; and, after a break of one year, Editorial Blume resumed in 2012. Five publishers, in five nations, were involved in 2015.
There had also been participation from Dutch and Greek publishers. In the Netherlands, Stichting Fragment Foto published the first two winners, and Focus Publishing (Uitgeverij Focus) the third; Mets & Schilt published the winner from 2006 to 2008. In Greece, Apeiron Photos published the winner from 2003 to 2010.
The award was for some years associated with Leica: the published winner from both 1996 and 1999 acknowledge the support of Leica;[2] and in 2006, the award was renamed the Leica European Publishers Award for Photography.[3] This lasted until 2008;[4] "Leica" was dropped from the name for 2009.[5]
The award also had support from other corporations.[6]
As 2016 ended, no award for the year had been announced and Kehrer was describing the annual award in the past tense but allowing for the possibility of a resumption: "The Award is currently under review. / A further announcement will be made in Fall 2016."[7]
| year | winner | subject/theme | Germany (German) | Britain (English) | Spain (Spanish/ Catalan[8]) | France (French) | Italy (Italian) | Netherlands (Dutch) | Greece (Greek) | also shortlisted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Dario Mitidieri[9] | the street children of Bombay[10] | Kinder von Bombay | Children of Bombay | Los niños de Bombay | Enfants de Bombay | I bambini di Bombay | De kinderen van Bombay | |||
| 1995 | Shanta Rao[11] [12] | Queens of Saba | Stories of women | Reina de África | Alemshaye et autres histoires de femmes | Donne d'Africa | Vrouwenverhalen | ||||
| 1996 | Bruce Gilden[13] [14] | Haiti | Haiti | Haiti | Haïti | Haiti | Haïti | ||||
| 1997 | Toni Catany[16] | "portraits, nudes and still lives", using a process based on Calotype[17] | Photographs | Life and still life | Fotografies[18] | Photographies | Nature in posa | ||||
| 1998 | Dean Chapman[19] | the Karen people and their struggle against the Burmese state[20] | Karenni: Guerilla in Burma | Karenni | Karenni | Karenni | Karenni | ||||
| 1999 | Jeff Mermelstein[21] | New York City street photographs[22] | Sidewalk | Sidewalk | Sidewalk: Pateando Nueva York | Sidewalk | Sidewalk: Per le strade di New York | ||||
| 2000 | Alfons Alt[23] | portraits of individual animals[24] | Bestiarium | The nature of the beast | Bestias | Bestiae | Bestiae | ||||
| 2001 | David Farrell[25] | sites of violence and tragedy during the "troubles" in northern Ireland | Innocent landscapes = Unschuldige Landschaften | Innocent landscapes | Paisajes inocentes | Innocents paysages | Paesaggi innocenti | ||||
| 2002 | Simon Norfolk[26] | the old and new ruins of Afghanistan[27] | Afghanistan zero | Afghanistan chronotopia | Afganistán chronotopia | Afghanistan chronotopia | zero | ||||
| 2003 | Haris Kakarouhas[28] | Buena Vista Cuba | Suspended time: A Cuban portrait | Tiempo en suspenso: Un retrato de Cuba | Le temps suspendu: Un portrait de Cuba | Il tempo sospeso. Un ritratto di Cuba | Μετέωρος χρόνος. Κούβα | ||||
| 2004 | Harri Kallio[29] [30] | Der Dodo auf Mauritius. Die Wiedergeburt eines ausgestorbenen Vogels | The dodo and Mauritius island: Imaginary encounters | El pájaro dodo y la Isla Mauricio: Encuentros imaginarios | À la recherche du dodo: enquête, récit, photographies | Il dodo e l'isola di Mauritius: Incontri immaginari | Το Ντόντο και το νησί Μαυρίκιος | ||||
| 2005 | Lorenzo Castore[31] | Havana and elsewhere in Cuba[32] | Paradiso | Paradiso | Paradiso | Paradiso | Paradiso | Paradiso | |||
| 2006 | Ambroise Tézenas[33] [34] | Peking. Théâtre du peuple | Beijing: Theatre of the people | Pekín, teatro del pueblo | Pékin, théâtre du peuple | Pechino, teatro del popolo | De hutongs van Peking | Πεκίνο, σκηνικά μιας μετάβασης | |||
| 2007 | Paolo Pellegrin[35] | "In Cambodia, Uganda, Kosovo and a host of other countries racked by wars and epidemics, Paolo Pellegrin is out to cover . . . the specificities and singularities of events, situations and faces . . ." | As I was dying | As I was dying | As I was dying | Alors que je mourais | As I was dying | As I was dying | As I was dying | ||
| 2008 | Jacob Aue Sobol[36] | encounters in Tokyo[37] | I, Tokyo | I, Tokyo | Tokio | Tokyo | Io, Tokyo | Ik, Tokyo | Εγώ, Τόκυο | Gautier Deblonde, Balazs Gardi, Maya Goded, Zed Nelson, Mark Power, Rafael Trobat | |
| 2009 | journeys along the rail routes from east Europe to east Asia | Go east | East to east | Al este del este | Transsibériades | All'est dell'est | Πέραν της ανατολής | Paula Bronstein, Luca Campigotto, Olivier Culmann, Olivier Pin-Fat, Fabio Ponzio, Carlos Spottorno | |||
| 2010 | Christophe Agou[38] [39] | life in the (massif central, central France)[40] | Gesichter der Stille | In the face of silence | Ante el silencio | Face au silence | Di fronte al silenzio | Aπέναντι Στη Σιωπή | Claudio Rasano, Nikos Markou, Davide Monteleone, Stanley Greene, Serguei Bykov, Martin Weber (withdrew)[41] | ||
| 2011 | Davide Monteleone[42] [43] | Chechnya and the north Caucasus[44] | Rote Distel | Red thistle | Chardon rouge | Cardo rosso | Stephen Dupont, Celine Marchbank, Michael Martin, Rania Matar, Paolo Ventura, Riccardo Venturi | ||||
| 2012 | Alessandro Imbriaco[45] [46] | "a small swamp under a flyover on the ring road circling the eastern outskirts of Rome - a failed nature reserve that ended up protecting [a family]" | Der Garten | The garden | El jardín | Le jardin | Il giardino | Luca Desienna, Zoltán Jókay, Fernando Moleres, Kosuke Okahara, Guillaume Simoneau, Kurt Tong[47] | |||
| 2013 | Alisa Resnik[48] | St Petersburg and Berlin at night | One another | One another | El uno el otro | L'un l'autre | L'un l'altro | Andrea Ferrari, Paul Gaffney, Carlos Spottorno, Ambroise Tézenas, Paolo Verzone, Fabian Weiss[49] | |||
| 2014 | Kirill Golovchenko[50] | "the lives of those who run roadside stalls in Ukraine – 'tochka', where they sell fruit according to the season and often far more"[51] | Bitter Honeydew | Bitter honeydew | Melones de hiel | Melons amers | Il gusto amaro del melone | Martin Bogren, Harry Borden, Stephen Dupont, Adam Ferguson, Jörg Klaus, Mafalda Rakos + Ivna Vieira[52] | |||
| 2015 | Danila Tkachenko[53] | "project Restricted Areas" | Restricted Areas | Restricted areas | Zona restringida | Restricted areas | Restricted areas | Jon Lowenstein, Carl Bigmore, Dougie Wallace, Javier Argennilace, Guilame Bression and Carlos Ayesta, Simone Ghizzone |