The World’s Best Food Photographs have just been announced by the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year. This year’s global judging panel, tasked with assessing the thousands of entries submitted from over 65 countries across the world, was chaired by legendary food photographer David Loftus and includes Clare Reichenbach, Tom Athron, Asma Khan, Fiona Shields, and Rein Skullerud.
A haunting image, Red Bean Paste Balls, by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang, has won the overall prize of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024, the world’s leading celebration of food photography and film. The Chinese photographer has been crowned Overall Winner of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024 and awarded the prize of £5,000 (GBP) for his image capturing a woman entering a room to add her latest creation to a mountain of steaming dim sum, all prepared for a feast to celebrate Lunar New Year.
To see the online gallery of all the 2024 finalists, visit the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year website. Entries for the 2025 edition of the competition will open later this year in September.
More info: pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com | Instagram | Facebook | x.com
#1 1st Place, Food Stylist Award: Summer Nectarine And Lavender Tart By Barbora Baretic
The smell of lavender in my garden inspired me to create this photo. I believe the juicy nectarines complement the lavender well and the colours are complementary too: purple and yellow.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#2 Overall Winner (And Champagne Taittinger Food For Celebration Category): Red Bean Paste Balls By Yang Zhonghua
In the rural area of Xiangshan, Zhejiang people are busy with preparations for a feast to celebrate Spring Festival, also know as Lunar New Year. This includes the tradition of making dim sum, such as red bean dumplings, steamed rice cakes and glutinous rice cake, each of which has a legacy of traditional craftsmanship.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#3 1st Place, Food In The Field: Mangrove Fisherman By Teo Chin Leong
A Burmese fisherman attempts to make a catch in a mangrove forest. The early morning rays of the sun create a magical atmosphere.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#4 1st Place, Food Stylist Award: Rhubarb Puzzle Love By Barbora Baretic
Rhubarb is so fascinating to me. I adore its colour and texture. It also means spring is near.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#5 1st Place, Food Stylist Award: Blood Orange Cardamom Cake By Barbora Baretic
Creating this image as a symbol of long-awaited spring was pure joy. Blood oranges are incredible by their texture, colour and shine and that’s what I wanted to capture.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#6 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (The Gulf): Market Lady By Hein Van Tonder
A woman surrounded by bananas at the fresh market in Pondicherry, India.
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#7 1st Place, Mpb Award For Innovation: Autumn Cocktail By Viktoriia Kondysenko
Taste of autumn. Autumn cocktail with pumpkin juice and maple syrup.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#8 1st Place, Tenderstem® Bring Home The Harvest: A Day In The Field By Natnattcha Chaturapitamorn
At the beginning of the rice farming season, a young farmer carries a rack of rice sprouts across a paddy field in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#9 1st Place, Unearthed® Food For Sale: Tribal Farmers Sell Their Fruit By Azim Khan Ronnie
Boats fan out across a stretch of the lake, creating a floating market selling an array of fresh fruit. This is a floating market of seasonal fruits such as jackfruit, pineapple, mango etc. at Rangamati, Bangladesh. The tribal farmers sell their fruit every early morning at minimum price on a wholesale basis.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#10 1st Place, The Philip Harben Award For Food In Action: Rice Grain Threshing By Kishore Das
As the sun gracefully descends on the horizon, casting a warm and magical golden glow with an ethereal radiance, a tribal lady engages in the ancient practice of threshing rice grains in the courtyard of her home with rhythmic movements by skillfully tossing the harvested rice into the air.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#11 1st Place, Food Stylist Award: Summer Tart By Barbora Baretic
Nothing but a gorgeous strawberry tart highlighted by a beautiful summer side light. It’s crisp, fresh and I can almost smell the strawberries and mint.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#12 1st Place, World Food Programme Food For Life: New Life – New Potential By Kristyn Taylor
An elderly Rendille woman holds her newborn goat outside her house. She lives in Ngurunit, a difficult area to access in northern Kenya. The land is dry and access to water for people and animals is precarious.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#13 1st Place, Tiptree Cake Award: It’s Raining Cake – Hallelujah! By Ming Tang-Evans And Tarunima Sinha
A celebration of cake with ‘My Little Cake Tin’s’ signature colourful and stylish edible floral decoration.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#14 1st Place, Pink Lady® Moments Of Joy: Breakfast With The Brokpas By Debdatta Chakraborty
The Brokpas are a small ethnic group mostly found in the union territory of Ladakh, India. The Brokpas traditionally claim themselves to be descendants of Alexander’s lost army. The Brokpa diet is based on locally grown barley and wheat, prepared most often as tsampa (roasted flour) and Gur-Gur Cha, a brewed tea made of black tea, butter and salt.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#15 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (Chile): Oh Beautiful Crumb By Antonia Larrain Eyzaguirre
Handmade sourdough bread with a crispy crust, fluffy and airy crumb and with the perfect humidity. Just feeling its smell makes your mouth water and you cannot leave it or change it just like that. It’s a deep, unconditional and loyal love.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#16 1st Place, Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer: Let Them Eat Cake! By Lynne Kennedy
Lucy and Tony and their children made the long journey from Kent to the Isle of Skye to get married. They didn’t want to transport a traditional wedding cake all that way, so their cakemaker produced these fabulous little ‘cakes in containers’ for them. We found a spot by the historical Sligachan Bridge and they tucked in!
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#17 1st Place, Hotel Art Group Cream Of The Crop: Chestnut Season By Tailai Obrien
Chestnuts symbolise Autumn harvest. In our family with strong Celtic roots, they are considered guardians of men and animals. The antique chestnut roaster is a family heirloom and a nod to our farming heritage. The crested dove symbolises harmony and virility. Chestnuts are highly nutritious and a delicious food for celebrations.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#18 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (New Zealand): Radish Salad By Raewyn Epps
Playing with shapes, colours and texture.
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#19 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (South East Asia): Danang Fishermen By Natnattcha Chaturapitamorn
Local fishermen cast their fishing net from two Sampan boats in Vietnam.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#20 1st Place, Food For The Family: New Year In Old Cave Dwelling By Ren Xiuting
Photographed in Licheng County, Shanxi Province. During the Chinese New Year, families gather around to make dumplings and have a good time talking and laughing.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#21 1st Place, Politics Of Food: Empty Shop, Cuba By Jo Kearney
A shopkeeper resting in a greengrocer’s shop in Cuba. The state shops tend to be pretty empty. When food arrives there’s a queue because they are subsidised by the government and so food is much cheaper than in the private stores.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#22 1st Place, Street Food: Fighting To Save Life By Mohammad Reaz Uddin
Every evening, Ayesha makes packets of Hawai sweets by herself. The next day, at six in the morning, Ayesha and her daughter Hanufa go to different streets in the village and children’s schools and sell the Hawai sweets. They earn about 300 taka per day and with this money she maintains her family and business.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#23 1st Place, Claire Aho Award For Women Photographers: B.l.t. Contemplation By Delaney Mcquown
This photograph is part of my ongoing self-portrait project, urging women to find liberation through unidealized self-images. Excessive self-documentation fosters familiarity, enabling women to exist unapologetically in photos. Capturing myself eating a B.L.T. without inhibition felt fitting, given the complex relationships women often have with their bodies and food. I’m passionate about women embracing their cameras, leading to liberation and self-love.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#24 1st Place, Young – 13 – 17: Banana Haul By Sam Eichenholz
Under a bridge that spans the red river in Hanoi, Vietnam, residents have transformed public lands into bountiful gardens. As I descended the stairs to explore this hidden corner of the city, I came upon this man carrying his banana haul and was struck by the soulfulness of his eyes.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#25 1st Place, On The Phone: Fisherman By Hein Van Tonder
A man selling the catch of the day in the vibrant fresh market in Pondicherry, India.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#26 1st Place, Food Stylist Award: Canneles By Barbora Baretic
I find canneles so inspiring. Crispy on the outside and soft and yellow on the inside. I had so much fun styling these.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#27 1st Place, Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture: All The Cocktails On The Menu By Paul Dodd
A set piece showcasing the cocktails sold by local cocktail bar, Martini and Co.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#28 1st Place, Production Paradise Previously Published: Would You Like Mustard With That? By Max Jowitt, And Rosie French
Shot as part of a series, The Hungry Traveller, a Gousto campaign celebrating cuisines from around the world.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#29 1st Place, Young – 12 And Under: Bee’s Breakfast By William Dewhurst
I caught this bee having breakfast on a large sunflower at Bignor Roman Villa in West Sussex, England. Without bees to pollinate, there would be far less food in the world.
I caught this bee having breakfast on a large sunflower at Bignor Roman Villa in West Sussex, England. Without bees to pollinate, there would be far less food in the world.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#30 1st Place, Student Food Photographer Of The Year Supported By The Royal Photographic Society: Sweet Dionysus By Elbe Vorster
Showcasing the dynamic form and craft of an intricate glass decanter.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#31 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (African Territories): Biscuit Cake By Winifred Harms
Biscuits at their best.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#32 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (China): Care By Liu Min
Taken in Xifeng District, Qingyang City, Gansu Province. I witnessed a heartwarming moment while capturing a wedding, where a man was serving food to the elderly man at his side, which was touching.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#33 1st Place, Food Influencer: Hanging Buri (Yellowtail) By Matteo Alberti
Buri is Japanese for the fish Seriola quinqueradiata, known in English as ‘yellowtail’. For centuries, fishermen filleted buri, salted them, dried them for about ten days, and finally wrapped them in leaves and long rice-straw ropes before hanging them in front of their houses, exposed to the sea breeze.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#34 1st Place, Errazuriz Wine Photographer Of The Year – People: Les Liens Du Vin By Jonathan Thevenet
A Moment captured at the Aegerter estate in Burgundy, France. The children, the family, all gathered around the harvest. The transmission is running.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#35 1st Place, The James Beard Foundation Photography Award: Pitmaster, Big Bob Gibson’s, Decatur, Al By Simon Urwin
Chris Lilly is the multi-award-winning pitmaster at Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, Alabama. Big Bob (Lilly’s great-grandfather-in-law), opened the business in 1925 and found fame for his revolutionary white barbecue sauce (at a time when most BBQ sauces were red and tomato or chilli-based.) His recipe of mayonnaise, black pepper, vinegar and lemon has since become hugely popular worldwide.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#36 1st Place, Errazuriz Wine Photographer Of The Year – Overall (And Places): Harvest In Volnay, Burgundy By Thierry Gaudillère
The domaine is harvesting a vine in Volnay, Burgundy with the help of a horse.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#37 1st Place, Pink Lady® Food Photographer Of The Year (Europe): The Pig’s Testament By Diego Marinelli
The killing of the pig is a real ritual of Italian rural culture. I was struck by the elderly man’s sense of respect towards the sacrificed animal and I hope that the image makes us reflect on how man’s relationship with food has changed in the last 70 years.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#38 1st Place, Errazuriz Wine Photographer Of The Year – Produce: In The Tank During Alcoholic Fermentation By Guenhaël Kessler
Xavier Vignon – Wine Globe fermentation – Rhone Valley, France.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
#39 1st Place, Food At The Table: Pork, Laughter, And Red Wine By Virginia Morán
Chef Antón bids farewell to his beloved restaurant, after 30 years of service, inviting his closest family and friends to a simple yet heartfelt feast. The main dish, sourced from a pig slaughter: liver with onions, served with sourdough bread and a fine Rioja. A poignant farewell to a culinary era filled with laughter, joy and good red wine.
Image source: Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year
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