For anyone who has been in that part of the world, the linen cover of this book will instantly evoke memories of dusty journeys through the desert expanses of Southern Morocco – a section of the journey of which this photo book is a reportage. In any event, this is an excellent choice. Where in another case it may have come over as a little too anecdotal, here it is the perfect fit. Gritty, dirty, longing for a shower. You can almost smell the camels.

There was, however, a lot of discussion among the jury members. Where one was not entirely convinced by the visuals and their quality, for another the personal impact lay in the enlarged video stills, which allow us to experience the whole trip alongside the protagonists.

A great deal of attention has been lavished on the design, and this elevates the work as a whole to a higher level. The picture index underscores the idea of a travelogue and the fact that there are no page numbers, just index numbers, throughout the book further reinforces this feeling. The extremely saturated stills of the picture index add to the rough-and-ready feel of the whole. Here too the jury was unable to reach a consensus, but the majority decision was that this was an intentional choice: to prevent a quick look through the index from taking the place of the pictures themselves. It is only when you leaf through the book that you can really experience the journey – in combination with the occasional sniff of the cover.