For the 56th edition of the festival, Les Rencontres de la photographie and the LUMA foundation are once again offering the LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award, a prize to help publish a book dummy. Launched in 2015 with a production budget of €25,000, the award is open to photographers and artists using photography who submit a book design that has never been published before. Particular attention will be paid to experimental and innovative forms of publishing. The deadline for entries is 12 May 2025. The Rencontres de la photographie and the LUMA Foundation will set up a jury to select the shortlisted models and the winning model. This set will be exhibited as part of the official itinerary of the 2025 festival.
Prize
The prize is endowed with a production budget of €25,000, including a total of €3,000 in copyright. This prize money will be used exclusively for the production of the project submitted. Les Rencontres d’Arles will ensure the editorial and financial follow-up of the project, in collaboration with the publisher chosen for the publication.
Conditions
→ The prize is open to photographers and artists of all ages and nationalities who use photography.
→ Their work must have been the subject of collective and/or individual exhibitions and publications that have brought them national or even international recognition.
→ Applications may be individual or collective.
→ Only one project may be submitted. It must be unpublished, never have been the subject of a publication and not be subject to any commitment with a publishing house.
→ The ISBN number is not necessary. Mock-ups with this number must provide proof that they are not under contract with a publishing house.
→ The project must be as close as possible to its final version, both in terms of its form and the materials used (type of paper, format, etc.), and technically feasible within a traditional publishing production framework.
→ The project must be financially feasible within the production budget allocated by the prize fund, and may be modified by the designated publishing house if it wins the prize.
Terms and conditions
Participation in the LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles 2025 is free of charge.
You must send both a physical and a digital application.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Entries may be completed in French or English. The artwork must be presented in its original language.
Nomination
A pre-selection of works will be made by the Rencontres d’Arles and the LUMA foundation during the month of June, followed by the designation of the winning work, which will be announced during the opening week of the festival, on Friday 11 July 2025 at the Théâtre Antique. The jury will take into account the editorial quality of the project submitted and its technical and financial feasibility.
Agenda
→ Submission of applications is open from 17 March to 12 May 2025 inclusive.
→ Jury meeting and deliberation in mid-June 2025.
→ Announcement of the shortlisted designs in June 2025.
→ Announcement of the winning maquette during the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles, at the Théâtre Antique, on Friday 11 July 2025.
→ Exhibition of the winning model and the shortlisted models throughout the festival, at Mécanique Générale, from 7 July to 5 October 2025.
→ Production of the winning book in late 2025, early 2026.
Application form
For each project submitted, you will be asked to:
– completing and validating this online form (digital application)
→ Online entry form
AND
– sending a physical file (physical application) comprising:
→ a physical copy of the model (in the event that the project is shortlisted or awarded a prize, a second copy will be requested from you in order to be kept in the Rencontres d’Arles archives; the copy initially received will be exhibited during the 2025 edition).
→ The candidate’s NAME + FIRST NAME and the title of the dummy book.
