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 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 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.
Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang 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 Red Bean Paste Balls. The photo captures 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.
Lynne Kennedy, who lives near Kyle of Lochalsh, triumphed for a fourth year running. This year, she won the Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer of the Year category with ‘Let them eat cake!’. “Lucy and Tony and their children made the long journey from Kent to the Isle of Skye to get married,” explains Kennedy. “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!”
Kennedy was also awarded 3rd place in the Pink Lady® Moments of Joy category for her capture of Martha Doyle, the Mexican chef behind the cookbook, A Seafood Journey.
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The winners of all 36 categories were announced by acclaimed chef and broadcaster Andi Oliver in an exciting Awards ceremony gathering stars of the food and arts world at the Mall Galleries, London on Tuesday 4 June 2024.
Scottish photographer Lynne Kennedy won the Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer of the Year category with ‘Let them eat cake!’
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, includes: Clare Reichenbach, CEO, the James Beard Foundation, Tom Athron, CEO, Fortnum & Mason, Asma Khan, Presenter, Chef’s Table, Cookbook Author and Founder, Darjeeling Express, Fiona Shields, Picture Editor, The Guardian and Rein Skullerud, Senior Photographer & Photo Editor, World Food Programme.
“Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year continues to tell important food stories from across the globe through the very best photography,” says Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady® and headline sponsor of the Awards. “Despite the challenges of an ever-changing world, we never cease in growing, gathering, cooking, eating and celebrating with food. Each year, the remarkable photographs serve as a reminder of the fundamental role of food in every culture and every people around the world.”
An exhibition of all the finalist images and films will premiere at the Mall Galleries, London. The free-to-enter exhibition, which has been named one of the best photography exhibitions to see in 2024, runs from 5th – 9th June. The exhibition forms part of the first-ever Plate! St James’s, a new festival across the historic area of St James’s in London which celebrates food, drink and photography from 5th – 23rd June.
To see the online gallery of all the 2024 finalists, visit www.pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com
Entries for the 2025 edition of the competition will open later this year in September.
Ming Tang-Evans won the Tiptree Cake Award for ‘It’s Raining Cake – Hallelujah!’, a capture bursting with colour, styled by Tarunima Sinha.
Natnattcha Chaturapitamorn won the Tenderstem® Bring Home the Harvest category for ‘A Day in the Field’, which captures a young farmer carrying a rack of rice sprouts across a paddy field in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand.
