From a captivating longlist announced this May, the judges of the 2026 Kraszna-Krausz Photo Book Award had their work cut out for them, but they’ve just announced the four finalist titles. They explore thought-provoking topics from life in wartime Ukraine, colonial photographic legacies, the nature of photography and the everyday realities of working-class America.
The Kraszna-Krausz Book Award, established in 1985, is open to all Photography and Moving Image books published in the previous year and available in the UK. It celebrates books that make an outstanding contribution to art, history, research, criticism, science, or the conservation of photography and the moving image.
Holding a physical book – unlike scrolling on social media – encourages the viewer to slow down and focus on only what’s in front of them. The tactility of a photobook, as you flip through the pages, the pacing, scale, paper choice, binding, and even the resistance of a page add meaningful layers to how a photograph is perceived.
The following gallery showcases the shortlisted titles competing for the £10,000 shared prize fund, with winners to be announced at the end of June.
Index 2025 by Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa
Artist and critic Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa presents Index2025, a book constituted by cuts, folds, citations, terms and images, all of which explore the resonance of its (im)proper name. Its origins are certainly multiple, multiply uncertain, as stable as any reflection given in space over time. Or, as fixed as any photograph.
Red Horse by Sasha Kurmaz
An ongoing project launched after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Red Horse takes the form of a visual diary, composed of daily collages made from personal documentary photos, found images, notes, drawings, and things found on the street. The work conveys Sasha Kurmaz’s personal testimony about life in Ukraine and how it is constantly reshaped under the destructive power of war as he captures both his personal life and the lives of people around him who are trying to survive in conditions of constant danger.
The Fold by Hoda Afshar
Through critical reappropriation, Iranian artist Hoda Afshar reclaims a colonial photographic legacy fixated on the veiled woman. It takes as its starting point the vast archive of French psychiatrist and photographer Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault who produced thousands of images of veiled women—and sometimes men—in Morocco. The Fold is a critical visual and psychological investigation into the enduring legacy of Orientalist and colonialist photographic practices, and the ways in which these gazes continue to shape how bodies—particularly veiled Islamic bodies—are seen, archived, and consumed.
Too Many Products Too Much Pressure by Janet Delaney
In 1980, as a young photographer just beginning her MFA in San Francisco and developing a keen interest in documenting labour, Janet Delaney embarked for a week on the job with her soon-to-retire father, a travelling beauty product salesman. Photographing beauty parlours with a critical distance, using frontal, wide shots and often bright flash, Delaney created a witty documentation of a typical day in the life of a salesman that, ultimately, became a testament to his love.
Related reading:
- 60 Years in Britain: this award-winning photographer reveals a rarely-seen side to British culture
- Winner of top Sony World Photography Awards $25,000 prize revealed!
- This photographer has just won £30,000 – what do you think of their work?
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