The Author Book Award of 8,000 euros goes to the best photography book published between 1 of June 2010 and 31 May 2011.The Historical Book Award of 8,000 euros goes to the best thematic book or monograph published between 1 June 2010 and 31 May 2011. The Book Award winners are chosen by the five Discovery Award nominators, Rencontres d’Arles president Jean-Noël Jeanneney, and LUMA Foundation president, Maja Hoffmann. 500 books published during the year are sent by the publishers. One copy is received by the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d'Arles and the other is exhibited in the festival. Afterwards, it is offered to a foreign institution with limited resources (Three Shadows in Beijing, 2010; Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia Balla Fasseké Kouyaté of Bamako, 2011).