27 September–26 October

The Dummy Award is the international competition for the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year.

The Dummy Award is one of the most important international competitions in support of photographers and photobook publishing. Evolved from the famous Kassel Dummy Award, and organised by the PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne since 2023, the award seeks the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year. On March 8th 2025, an invited jury met to review and evaluate the 395 dummies received from 48 countries. In the end, 50 books were selected to make up the shortlist of the Dummy Award ’25.

The Dummy Award travels the world as an exhibition of the shortlisted books, stopping at key locations such as Barcelona, Milan, Bangkok, and Santiago de Chile, and events and venues including the Rencontres d’Arles (LUMA), Galerie Fotografic in Prague, and the Penumbra Foundation in NYC.

PhotoIreland has hosted the exhibition in Dublin every year, acknowledging the importance of this varied and ambitious presentation of artist practice, outstanding design, and a remarkable sample of a global passion for publishing; it is a rare opportunity to see these artists’ maquettes in real life at a special stage of the book-making process. It is a great way to discover diverse art practices as well as design approaches from all over the world.

The International Centre for the Image brings you the opportunity to enjoy these publications from 27th September to 26th October 2025. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite one!

Browse all shortlisted books on the Dummy Award Youtube channel.

Download the Dummy Award Catalogue 2025