Food, glorious food! Beautiful bean paste balls and a moody self-portrait with a bacon sarnie are among photography contest winners celebrating delicious grub!

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 image, which had first won the Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration category, was taken in the rural area of Xiangshan, Zhejiang during busy preparations for a feast for the Spring Festival, also known 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. ‘This wonderful, perfectly balanced image is full of light, shadow, mystery and poignancy,’ said Caroline Kenyon, founder of the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year. ‘It is clear a celebratory feast is being prepared. The food is exquisitely made, its circular shapes contrasting with the angularity of the fretwork screens, through which the light pours. Meanwhile, the woman who has made the food, weary, carries in yet another tray. Her role is to labour and to serve, while the guests party and enjoy’

A self portrait of the Delaney McQuown eating a BLT without inhibition won the Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers. Commenting on her piece, titled ‘BLT Contemplation’, the Ohio-based photographer said: ‘This photograph is part of my ongoing self-portrait project, urging women to find liberation through unidealised self-images. Excessive self-documentation fosters familiarity, enabling women to exist unapologetically in photos. Capturing myself eating a BLT 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’

‘It’s Raining Cake – Hallelujah!’ by photographer Ming Tang-Evans and styled by Tarunima Sinha – a capture bursting with color – won the category of Tiptree cake award. The cakes in the image feature My Little Cake Tin’s edible, floral decorations. The category was looking for ‘the most stunning, evocative images of cake, in any setting, anywhere in the world’

Simon Urwin, a UK-based award-winning travel photographer and writer, won The James Beard Foundation Photography Award for his capture of multi-award-winning pitmaster Chris Lilly at the renowned Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, Alabama. The restaurant first found fame for Big Bob (Chris Lilly’s great-grandfather’s) revolutionary white barbecue sauce. Big Bob opened his restaurant in 1925. The category looks at images that celebrate the people behind America’s food culture

‘Rice Grain Threshing’ by Kishore Das won The Philip Harben for Food in Action award. As the sun gracefully descends on the horizon, casting a warm and magical golden glow with an ethereal radiance, an Indian tribal woman 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

Jonathan Thevenet won the Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the year award for his capture: ‘Les Liens du Vin’, which translated to ‘The Links of Wine’. The image shows a moment captured at the Aegerter estate in Burgundy, France, where a family gathers around the harvest

‘Mangrove Fisherman’ by Teo Chin from Japan won the Food in the Field category. A Burmese fisherman is captured in a mangrove forest near Inle Lake, Myanmar. The fisherman who is using a traditional conical shaped net, is attempting to make a catch. The early morning rays of the sun create a magical atmosphere

Boats fan out across a stretch of a lake, creating a floating market selling an array of fresh fruit, such as jackfruit, pineapple and mango in Rangamati, Bangladesh, where tribal farmers sell their fruit every day in the early morning. By Azim Khan Ronnie, who won the unearthed Food For Sale category

A photograph of a man selling the catch of the day in the vibrant fresh market in Pondicherry, India by Hein van Tonderwon won the On the Phone Category. The photographer, who is based in Abu Dhabi, also won Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year awards in 2023 and 2017, and awarded Highly Commended in 2022, 2019, 2016 and 2015. He is known for his captures of food, drinks and interiors

‘Bee’s Breakfast’, by William Dewhurst for the Young category for contestants aged 12 or under. Commenting on his photograph, Dewhurst said: ‘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 too less food in the world’

‘Would You Like Mustard with That?’ by Max Jowitt from the UK won the Production Paradise Previously Published award. The image of the delichous hot-dog was shown as part of a series, ‘The Hungry Traveller’, a Gousto campaign celebrating different cuisines from around the world

The Politics of Food Award was won by British photographer Jo Kearney for her image ‘Empty Shop’, taken in Cuba. The image shows a shopkeeper resting in a greengrocer, although the supply is scarce, as Cuba battles with a food shortage. Kearney is a video journalist and photographer, working for broadcasters such as the BBC and Al Jazeera and the international press agency, Associated Press

‘Rhubarb Puzzle Love’ by Barbora Baretic won the Food Stylist Award. The picture shows a rhubarb tart, with the vegetable arranged to form a pattern that gives a third dimensional illusion. Commenting on her image, the British food stylist, photographer and baker said: ‘Rhubarb is so fascinating to me. I adore its colour and texture. It also means spring is near’