Red Bean Paste Balls, by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang, has won the overall prize of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024; the pink lady awards are held annually, and are 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.
“This wonderful, perfectly balanced image is full of light, shadow, mystery and poignancy,” says 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 labour and to serve, while the guests party and enjoy.”
The winners of the 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.
Ming Tang-Evans won the Tiptree Cake Award for ‘It’s Raining Cake – Hallelujah!’, a capture bursting with colour, styled by Tarunima Sinha.
“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.”
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.
This year’s global judging panel, as a part of the Pink Lady ® awards were 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, Head of Photography, Guardian News & Media and Rein Skullerud, Senior Photographer & Photo Editor, United Nations World Food Programme.
Simon Urwin 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, which first found fame for Big Bob’s revolutionary white barbecue sauce.
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.
Entries for the 2025 edition of the competition will open later this year in September.
To discover more, visit pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com
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Images used credited to Zhonghua Yang, Ming Tang-Evans, Natnattcha Chaturapitamorn, Simon Urwin, and Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.