The 5th edition of the award received more than 150 dummies for its annual open call, nominated by more than 70 international professionals. The 2025 jury composed of:
Helena Velez Olabarria, visual researcher and cultural producer, Star Award board of advisors
Javier Aristu, Creative director and founder – Aristu & Co, Star Award board of advisors
Ramon Reverté, Founder of RM, co-publisher
Josep Maria de Llobet, Photographer and founder – Ediciones Posibles, co-publisher
Juan Valbuena, Photographer and founder – Editorial Phree, co-publisher, Star Award board of advisors
Arianna Rinaldo, Independent curator and photography consultant, director of Star Photobook Dummy Award, Star Award board of advisors
Louise Fedotov-Clements, director of Photoworks, Brighton, nominator of the winning photobook dummy of the 2024 Star Award edition
chose the project Make Me Beautiful by Chinese artist Yufan Lu. The dummy, designed by Lyu Min, will become a book in 2026.
The Star Photobook Dummy Award was born as a tribute to Inés Casals, art director, graphic designer, dear friend and colleague, who left us in 2020.
With this initiative, we want to honor her memory and cherish the legacy of her work, her creativity and her love for photobooks.
The Award is an annual prize organized by Photographic Social Vision Foundation in collaboration with three publishing houses: Phree, Ediciones Posibles and RM. Every year the call opens on April 8, Inés’s birthday.
The dummy is evaluated on the basis of design and concept, but also on the basis of the story it narrates. The jury focuses on projects permeated by the human values that were important in the life and work of Inés Casals, such as friendship, empathy, intimacy, warmth, love, beauty, poetry, doubt, fear, challenge, tenacity, empowerment, self-determination, resilience, acceptance, self-care, compassion, without forgetting irony and non-conforming.