Photographic Publication of the Year finalists

Over 100 publications were submitted to the double edition of the Photographic Publication of the Year competition. The jury consisting of: Agnieszka Olszewska, Weronika Kobylińska, Natalia Mikołajczuk, Grzegorz Dąbrowski, Łukasz Rusznica, Maciej Zieliński, Krzysztof Luterek and Franek Ammer decided to award distinctions in the Photographic Publication of the Year 2020 edition:

• for an interesting combination of many layers, unique work with archives, for forcing the viewer to be especially active for Łukasz Gniadek and Krystyna Jędrzejewska-Szmek for “Tropicale”;
• for the successful combination of archives with contemporary photography, for taking up the topic of memory transfer and working with the form of a family album for Rafał Siderski for “Wyjedź Zostań” (“Leave Stay”);
• for an extremely painterly approach to the topic of exclusion, for a publication of excellent quality, and at the same time, do not be afraid of this term – beautiful, for Joanna Szpak-Ostachowska for “Chwasty” (“Weeds”);
• for the complex, huge and demanding work with own archives, for building a story about contemporary Poland from a historical perspective for Mariusz Forecki for “Mechanizm”.

Two publications receive the Krzysiek Makowski and the title of the Photographic Publication of the Year 2020. Both excellent, full, multi-layered, in which photos and design are inextricably linked. Both are inconspicuous, exceptionally avoiding gestures and modest. It turned out to be impossible to decide which one to choose, so they get the prize ex aequo:

• for a complete artistic statement, for the overall performance and all own decisions, for the universality of one-person narrative and a personal project, self-publishing book fully authorial by Marta Przybyło “Zrosty”;
• for enormous substantive work, incredibly wide research closed in such an inconspicuous publication, for substantive, photographic and design coherence, for the universality of the story, which, as we learn, is still relevant, Anna Pilawska-Sita and Michał Sita for “CủChi Tunnels Restoration Report”;
  In the Photographic Publication of the Year 2021, the jury decided to distinguish six publications;
• for intimate and modest work with an extremely strong emotional charge, for delicacy and curiosity, for extremely personal work that brings a new quality to the story about fatherhood, family relations for Grzegorz Dembiński for “Letter to a boy with a flashlight”;
• for going far beyond the accepted formulas and associations evoked by a photo book, for the integrity and coherence of the subject, form, and borderline of the media, for work that is, in fact, extremely difficult to label, for boldly revealing non-obvious aspects of motherhood for Dominika Sadowska for the book “Komcha”;
• for an interesting, synthetic combination of a long-term, documentary and personal project for Marta Bogdańska for “PLAINTEXT”;
• for solid work on the archives, for meticulousness and an interesting, adequate edition of a multi-threaded archive for Paweł Grześ, editor of “NIWA FOTO ARCH.”;
• for an excellent combination of a documentary image of contemporary Poland with a modern, still symbolic and coherent project for Dyba and Adam Lach for “Revisions”;
• for an extremely up-to-date, coherent and multi-threaded and multi-person project, for an adequate form of a zine, for a rapid and very creative response to a pandemic situation for the editor and designer, originator of “#stayathome_zin”, Krzysiek Orłowski and all the authors present in it.

Prize named after Krzysiek Makowski and the title of the Photographic Publication of the Year 2021 were awarded to a unique publication that breaks all the rules and principles, which presents the contemporary image of Poland in a bold way, and the works contained in it adequately match the whole project. Agnieszka Sejud for “HOAX” is awarded for his uncompromising attitude and courage.

The co-organizers of Fotofestiwal Lodz, the Bookoff Art Bookshop and the Służewski House of Culture would like to thank all the jurors, Artibo partner and media patrons Fotopolis.pl and Digital Camera Polska.