After receiving numerous submissions, six titles have been shortlisted for the 2025 Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards. Competing for the prestigious UK award and the £10,000 shared prize, three titles are in the Photography category, and three are in the Moving Image category. The selected works explore a range of themes, including non-binary identities and the revival of cinema.
The award is organized by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, named after Andor Kraszna-Krausz, a Hungarian publisher who founded Focal Press, a distinguished UK publisher known for its specialized photography books. Now in its 40th year, the award honors books that significantly contribute to the fields of art, history, research, criticism, science, or conservation concerning photography and the moving image.
From the Kraszna-Krasz Foundation, June 4, 2025
Photography Book Award Shortlist for 2025
- Outside the Binary by Linda Bournane Engelberth (Journal) – A collection of portraits featuring individuals worldwide who identify outside the traditional gender binary, whether as having both male and female identities, something fluid or androgynous, or entirely gender-neutral. Engelberth aims to expand this ongoing project to include portraits from Russia, Latin America, and more African countries, promoting the understanding that these identities are a common human experience.
- Tee A. Corinne: A Forest Fire Between Us by Charlotte Flint (Ed.) (MACK) – This comprehensive publication, edited by Flint, reveals Tee A. Corinne’s groundbreaking photographic work and its connections to her activism for lesbian rights. By exploring a vast array of archival materials, including unseen photographs and a detailed chronology, it serves as a rallying cry, demonstrating how photography, activism, and community can forge a vibrant new visual language around human desire.
- The Dog Sat Where We Parted by Mahmoud Khattab (Self-published) – A poignant exploration of military life in Egypt, Khattab’s project reflects on vulnerability during his year of national service as an army doctor in 2017. The title refers to a stray dog named Antar, with whom he formed a close bond during five-mile walks in the desert, encapsulating Khattab’s deep feelings of isolation as a soldier.
Moving Image Book Award Shortlist for 2025
Women’s Transborder Cinema: Authorship, Stardom, and Filmic Labor in South Asia by Esha Niyogi De (University of Illinois Press) – De utilizes film techniques to analyze how women filmmakers and entrepreneurs assert their creative authority amid anti-colonial nationalism and global capitalism. The cinema of the region has evolved into a platform for postcolonial discourse, intertwining colonial and local power dynamics into new imperial narratives. De’s work sheds light on the ways gender influences filmmaking opportunities and highlights the effects of state and market forces.
Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World by Ellen E. Jones (Faber) – This book explores the immense power of visual storytelling in combating racism, a persistent and alarming issue. Jones brings her unique perspective as a mixed-race woman and her two decades of experience as a film and TV journalist to illustrate the critical link between these facets of contemporary life.
Seeing Further by Esther Kinsky (translated by Caroline Schmidt) (Fitzcarraldo Editions) – Kinsky, a prominent contemporary German author, narrates her journey in revitalizing a deteriorating ‘mozi’ cinema in a small Hungarian town near the Romanian border. Driven by a passion for film, she shares her commitment to preserving this increasingly rare cultural institution, presenting a heartfelt tribute to the cinema and the communal experience it provides, beautifully rendered in Schmidt’s translation.
The ultimate winners will be revealed at the end of June 2025, with the next call for entries anticipated in November 2025.
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