2026 Book Awards

The Rencontres d'Arles Book Awards (Les Prix du Livre) is the festival's annual photobook prize program, distinct from the LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award. Where the LUMA prize funds a future book, the Book Awards recognize photobooks already published.

Three awards run in parallel, each carrying a €6,000 cash prize. The Author's Book Award examines individual photographic practice and subjective creative work — books that operate as artistic statements. The Historical Book Award focuses on documentation or archival work around historical subjects. The Photo-Text Book Award (supported by the Fondation Jan Michalski) emphasizes the relationship between text and images, with experimental approaches encouraged.

All shortlisted and winning books are exhibited at Rencontres d'Arles from July 6 through October 4, 2026, and at Jimei x Arles in Xiamen, China — meaning the prize produces both European and Asian exhibition placement. After the festival, books are archived at the École nationale supérieure de la photographie d'Arles.

Eligibility: books must have been published between May 13, 2025 and May 13, 2026. Self-published books without ISBN are eligible. Reissues are allowed if the first print run was under 150 copies. Open to artists of all ages and nationalities.

Application is free. A pre-jury convenes mid-June 2026 to identify pre-selected works; the full jury meets before opening week to select winners. Submissions require both an online form and a physical book sent to Arles. The 2026 deadline is May 13; winners announced July 7 during opening week.