Petals flying in a flurry from a blossoming cake, a ‘Last Supper’ with women only, appetizing desserts and joyful meals around the world are among the deliciously evocative images that have won the celebrated Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2024 contest.

The beautiful and haunting image, Red Bean Paste Balls, shot by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang,in the rural area of Xiangshan, Zhejiang, during busy preparations for a feast at the Spring Festival, won the overall prize of the world’s leading competition celebrating food photography and film.

The Overall Winner of Food Photographer of the Year 2024 — a woman entering a room to add her latest creation to a mountain of steaming dim sum — was honored with a £5,000 prize.

“This wonderful, perfectly balanced image is full of light, shadow, mystery and poignancy,” said Caroline Kenyon, Founder, 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 labor and to serve, while the guests party and enjoy.”

The winners of the 36 categories chosen from thousands of entries submitted from more than 65 countries were announced at an awards ceremony that gathered stars of the food and arts world in London.

“Despite the challenges of an ever-changing world, we never cease in growing, gathering, cooking, eating and celebrating with food,” says Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady® and headline sponsor of the Awards. “Each year, the remarkable photographs serve as a reminder of the fundamental role of food in every culture and every people around the world.”

See the online gallery of all the 2024 finalists here

Entries for the 2025 edition of the competition will open in September.

Overall Winner

In the rural area of Xiangshan, Zhejiang, people are busy with preparations for the 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.

Julielianne Medeiros Domingos’s stunning Female Last Summer showcases both the power of the universe and feminine creativity.

A Burmese fisherman attempts to make a catch in a mangrove forest. The early morning rays of the sun convey magic to the atmosphere.

Photographed in Licheng County, Shanxi Province, China, the farmyard offers a bountiful harvest of grain and bananas. The elderly and children enjoy lunch together, with laughter.

Buri is Japanese for the fish Seriola quinqueradiata, known in English as ‘yellowtail’. For centuries, fishermen filleted buri, salted them, dried them for about 10 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.

Creating this image as a symbol of long-awaited spring was a pure joy. Blood oranges are incredible for their texture, color and shine, all of which are captured here.

Chestnuts symbolize Autumn harvest, according to photographer Tailai O’Brien: “In our family, with strong Celtic roots, they are considered guardians of men and animals. The antique chestnut roaster is a family heirloom and nods to our farming heritage. The crested dove symbolizes harmony and virility. Chestnuts are highly nutritious and a delicious food for celebrations.”

Paul Dodd created a set piece showcasing all the ingredients in cocktails sold by a local cocktail bar.

The Brokpas are a small ethnic group living primarily in the territory of Ladakh, India. The Brokpas traditionally claim to be descendants of Alexander’s lost army. 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.

Two women enjoy ice cream at the Pujllay Festival in Tarabuco, Bolivia.

This enticing autumn cocktail features pumpkin juice and maple syrup.

This radish salad plays with shapes, colors and texture.

Every evening, Ayesha makes packets of ‘Hawaii sweets’ by herself. The next day, at six in the morning, she and daughter Hanufa walk to various streets and children’s schools in their village in Bangladesh to sell the sweets. They earn about 300 taka per day (around $2.50). With those earnings, she somehow supports her family and business.

At the start of rice season, a young farmer carries a rack of rice sprouts across a paddy field in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand.

As the sun gracefully descends on the horizon, casting a magical and ethereal golden glow, a tribal woman engages in the ancient practice of threshing rice grains in the courtyard of her home with rhythmic movements by skilfully tossing the harvested rice into the air.

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 and mango at Rangamati, Bangladesh. The tribal farmers sell their fruit every morning at minimum price on a wholesale basis.