T&H among Kraszna-Krausz winners

Books from Thames and Hudson and University of Exeter Press have won the 2014 Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Book Awards for books in the fields of photography and the moving image. Meanwhile Philippa Brewster, senior editor of Visual Culture at IB Tauris, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Award.

Thames and Hudson’s Sergio Larrain: Vagabond Photographer by Agnès Sire and Gonzalo Leiva Quijada received the Best Photography Book Award, while University of Exter Press’ Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897 - 1925 by Luke McKernan won the Best Moving Image Book Award. The winners, who were announced at the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony in London yesterday (Wednesday 30th April), will share the £10,000 prize.

The judging panel for the Best Photography Book Award included: curator and critic Kate Bush (chair); Emma Bowkett, photo editor at FT Weekend Magazine; and Thomas Joshua Cooper, landscape photographer and founding head of photography at Glasgow School of Art.

Sergio Larrain: Vagabond Photographer is the first complete monograph of Sergio Larrain’s work ever to be published. While Larrain only published four books of his work during his lifetime, this book contains a selection of over 200 photographs from throughout his career, as well as letters, drawings, workbooks and handwritten texts.

Bush commented: “This was the jury’s unanimous choice as overall winner. This is a magisterial survey of one of 20th century photography’s forgotten greats, and an exquisitely produced book: a masterpiece. It was impossible to imagine a better book on the work of Larrain and we wanted to recognize the author’s unique and personal engagement with the work of this reclusive modern master.”

The judging panel for the Best Moving Image Book Award consisted of: Dave Calhoun (chair), global film editor for the Time Out Group; Sean Cubitt, professor of Film and Television at Goldsmiths; and Robert Rider, head of Cinema at the Barbican.

Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897 - 1925 is the first biography of the influential film maker and innovator. It is also a historical study of the development of the non-fiction film in Britain and America in the early years of cinema, told through Urban’s experiences.

The panel said it was "a meticulously researched study of a hitherto neglected, significant figure in the early development of British cinema”.

They added: “In an engaging and spirited fashion, McKernan sheds new light on an important individual while using Urban's story to illuminate wider trends and changes in the cinema of the time. He brings a personality and a period alive."

In addition, Philippa Brewster, senior editor of Visual Culture at IB Tauris, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Award in recognition of her long-standing dedication to and impact on the visual publishing industry. Brewster’s career spans more than 40 years, with highlights including starting the cinema list at Routledge and building up the culture list at I.B. Tauris from scratch, with titles such as Eisenstein on the Audiovisual by Robert Robertson, which won the KKF Moving Image book award in 2009.

Speaking on behalf of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, chair Michael G Wilson said: “[Brewster’s] career at both Routledge and IB Tauris exemplifies the highest standards of production of a wide breadth and depth of titles. Philippa's history of working closely with authors and artists to bring rigorous books to life for audiences worldwide sets her apart among her peers.”

Previous recipients of the honour were Gerhard Steidl in its inaugural year, 2011, followed by Dewi Lewis in 2012 and Thomas Neurath in 2013.

A special display of the winning, shortlisted and longlisted books from the 2014 KKF Book Awards will be shown at Somerset House in London as part of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition from 1st–18th May.