Dummy Award 2026

The Dummy Award is an international competition for the best unpublished photobook dummy of the year.

Overview

The Dummy Award recognizes the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year. Since 2010, the Kassel Fotobook Festival has been inviting photographers to take part in its Kassel Dummy Award.

The participating photographers have been able to establish contacts with galleries, publishers and festivals and presented their books to an international audience. Hundreds of books from the shortlist have been exhibited at countless international photography events, festivals, and exhibition spaces. Over this period of time, thousands of photobook prototypes have been submitted from all over the world.

Practical Info

The Dummy Award invites international artists, photographers, and graphic designers who utilize photography in their work to submit unpublished photobook projects. There are no restrictions on themes. Any photographer from around the world can participate by registering for the competition and submitting an unpublished work as a physical book. All books published digitally or by self-publishing in small print-runs up to 100 copies are eligible to apply.

Applications must be submitted online, and physical dummies should be mailed. Online registration must be completed by January 31, 2026, while the physical dummy should reach Cologne by February 15, 2026.

From all entries, around 50 books are selected for a shortlist to be exhibited at international photography events. Together with the votes of the shortlist jury, each exhibiting venue has a vote, either determined by public vote or by curator’s choice. With these votes, 5 winning books will be selected from the shortlist.

The book that wins the PBM/MAS Prize will be produced and published by the leading Turkish photobook printing and binding house MAS Matbaa, in cooperation with the PhotoBookMuseum. The costs will be fully covered. The other four selected books will receive a production grant for printing their books at MAS Matbaa.

About The PhotoBookMuseum

Since 2023, the PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne, in partnership with MAS Matbaa, a prominent photobook printing and binding house in Istanbul, has been responsible for organizing the Dummy Award. Established in 2014 as a non-profit organization, the PhotoBookMuseum is dedicated to promoting the photobook as a vital form of photographic expression and a significant medium within the contemporary art landscape.