Les Rencontres de la Photographie and the LUMA Foundation are once again offering the prestigious LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award for the 56th edition of the festival. The award, aimed at assisting photographers and artists working with photography, offers a production budget of €25,000 to publish a previously unpublished book dummy. Since its launch in 2015, the award has encouraged innovative and experimental forms of publishing, with a particular focus on original and creative book designs. The deadline for submissions is 12 May 2025.
Award Details
The LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award is endowed with a production budget of €25,000, which includes €3,000 allocated for copyright fees. This prize money will be exclusively dedicated to the production of the submitted project. Les Rencontres d’Arles will oversee the editorial and financial management of the project, working closely with the publisher selected for publication.
Eligibility Criteria
The award is open to photographers and artists of all ages and nationalities who utilize photography in their work.
Applicants must have previously exhibited their work in collective and/or individual exhibitions, as well as having been published, achieving national or international recognition.
Applications can be submitted either individually or as a group project.
Only one project per applicant is allowed. The submitted project must be unpublished, not previously submitted for publication, and not under contract with any publishing house.
An ISBN number is not required, but applicants must provide evidence that their project is not under any publishing contract.
The submitted project must be close to its final version in terms of format, materials (such as paper type), and overall design, and must be technically feasible within a conventional publishing framework.
The project must be financially viable within the allocated production budget and may be subject to modifications by the selected publishing house if it wins the award.
Application Process
Participation in the LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award is free of charge. Applicants must submit both a physical and a digital application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Submissions can be completed in either French or English, with the artwork presented in its original language.
Selection Process and Timeline
A pre-selection of works will be made by Les Rencontres d’Arles and the LUMA Foundation in June 2025. The final winner will be announced during the opening week of the festival, on Friday, 11 July 2025, at the Théâtre Antique. The jury will evaluate the editorial quality, technical feasibility, and financial viability of the submitted projects.
Key Dates
Submission period: 17 March to 12 May 2025
Jury deliberation: Mid-June 2025
Shortlisted designs announcement: June 2025
Winner announcement: Friday, 11 July 2025, at the Théâtre Antique during the opening of the festival
Exhibition of shortlisted and winning models: 7 July to 5 October 2025 at Mécanique Générale
Production of the winning book: Late 2025 to early 2026
Application Instructions
Applicants must complete and validate the online application form and submit a physical copy of the book dummy. If the project is shortlisted or awarded the prize, a second copy will be requested for the Rencontres d’Arles archives, with the first copy displayed during the 2025 festival.
For each submission, the following details are required:
Name and title of the dummy book
Physical copy of the model
Completed online application form
The LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award represents an exciting opportunity for photographers and artists to bring their unpublished projects to life with professional support and visibility at one of the world’s leading photography festivals.
