“The Quiet Act of Cooking” by Judith Balari/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers.
This young woman, engaged in domestic work in a traditional Danish setting, evokes a simpler way of life.The lighting plays a crucial role in this image, with sunlight streaming in from the windows creating highlights and deep shadows that enhance texture and dimension of the objects and surfaces. A glimpse into a rustic kitchen, where tradition meets the present time.
The 2026 shortlist for the World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi® offers a vivid look at how food connects people across cultures and environments. Selected from thousands of entries submitted by photographers in more than 50 countries, the images reveal stories that extend far beyond the plate. The competition celebrates food in all its forms, with 27 categories ranging from growing and harvesting to cooking, sharing, and surviving.
Among the standout images is Lemongrass Harvest, Oko Farms, Brooklyn, New York, by Valery Rizzo. The photograph captures workers transporting freshly harvested lemongrass across a floating aquaponic farm in Brooklyn. The scene emphasizes both innovation and physical labor within an urban agricultural system.
Elsewhere, photographers turn their attention to ritual and place. In Cook at Phuktal Monastery, Ladakh, India, Gavin Burnett documents a cook preparing food inside a remote Himalayan monastery. The image highlights how food preparation supports daily spiritual life and community continuity.
The shortlist also includes images that explore contemporary food culture and visual experimentation. Paws and Pastries by Sylvie Pabion Martín reflects the stylized and playful aesthetics often found in social media imagery. Meanwhile, Summer Chocolate Oyster Mushroom Fans by Kate Ireland transforms ingredients into sculptural forms, focusing on texture, symmetry, and presentation.
An international panel chaired by renowned food photographer David Loftus will select the winners. The jury includes figures from across the food and photography worlds, such as Jamie Oliver, Claire Reichenbach of the James Beard Foundation, Ian Kittichai, Tom Athron, Deborah Willis, and Rein Skullerud of the World Food Programme.
Winners will be announced on June 2, 2026, at the Champagne Taittinger Awards Evening in London. The finalist images will then go on view in a free public exhibition at Mall Galleries from June 3 through June 7. A curated selection will also be displayed at Fortnum & Mason beginning June 9.
Scroll down to see a selection of standout images from the 2026 shortlist and visit the awards website to explore the full collection.
The World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi® have revealed the shortlist for its 2026 competition.
“Cook at Phuktal Monastery, Ladakh, India” by Gavin Burnett/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Gavin Burnett/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®.
Phuktal Monastery in the Zanskar valley is both picturesque and unique. The multi-story Gompa is only accessible by foot and is situated clinging to the cliff face above the Tsarap river. While exploring the monastery we passed the smoke-stained kitchen where the cook was preparing dinner for the resident monks.
“First Offering” by Viet Van Tran/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration.
Celebrated at harvest time in northern Vietnam, the New Rice Festival is a moment of gratitude. Freshly harvested rice is prepared and offered with traditional foods, sticky rice, cakes, and tea as thanks to the land and to ancestors for sustenance and continuity.
“New Year Reunion” by Guoquan Hu/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Food for the Family supported by the Felix Project.
“Dashitao”(peach-shaped cake making) has become a signature New Year folk custom in the rural Huizhou region of Anhui Province.China. The surface is often adorned with red or cinnabar, and the final product, resembling a peach, is symbolic of ‘double blessings' and ‘good fortune.' In 2018, it was listed as a representative item of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the scene, family members of all generations gather together in warmth and harmony, unfolding like a scroll of reunion. Rice and flour are blended and gently pressed into molds, forming the first shapes of shitao.Nearby, the daughter prepares vegetables and cooks,The photo fully shows the rich flavor of the New Year and the warmth of family unity.
“Bring them Chocolate” by Annenas Photography | Anne Pluijms/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Hotel Art Group Food Stylist Award.
FREEWORK | Bring them chocolate! Two little monkeys, fingers in the pot, chocolate everywhere. Styled for mess, framed for magic — drips, swirls, and indulgent chaos to celebrates sweetness and joy. Chocolate that steals the show, and sweet memories!
Photographers capture food through framing, ritual, and everyday life around the world.
“Ananas on the Road” by Valentina Bollea/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for unearthed® Food For Sale.
A Guatemalan pineapple vendor has set up his stall in the middle of a road where there is nothing for miles. The pineapples are sold whole or sliced with a strawberry topping.
“Lemongrass Harvest, Oko Farms, Brooklyn, New York” by Valery Rizzo/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Bring Home the Harvest.
Urban Farmers, carrying a raft board of Lemongrass, returning it to the deep water bed after harvesting. Oko Farms is an outdoor aquaponic farm in Brooklyn, New York.
“Goat's Day Out” by Arun Saha/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Food in the Field.
With Mount Semeru rising in the background, villagers in East Java of Indonesia rear goats as a vital food source. Goats provide nutritious meat and milk, supporting daily diets and festivals. Adapted to the volcanic terrain, they also offer steady income and food security for rural families.
“La Perseverancia Market” by Sebastian Kahnert/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action.
At La Perseverancia Market in Bogotá, Colombia, dozens of vendors prepare lunch simultaneously.
“Posy of Goldenberries, Mandarin and Daffodils” by Ania Matczuk/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Cream of the Crop.
Goldenberries, juicy mandarin, and daffodils arranged with white blooms representing renewal—a symphony of spring approaching.
“Transit” by Květa Trčková/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for MPB Award for Innovation.
Use your imagination and you will see things differently. Then you might stick a toy airplane onto blue paper and use lots of biscuits to create a city. Lie down on the floor and take photos upwards through the glass. The photograph is part of my long-term project of surreal still lifes.
“Paws and Pastries” by Sylvie Pabion Martín/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Food Influencer.
On the Mediterranean shore, a pug lounges inside a sun-drenched camper, gazing at a flaky cinnamon roll and a golden muffin. This shot celebrates the simple, sweet joys of life by the sea and the irresistible temptation of a perfect pastry.
The images highlight culture and the global power of food.
“A Bird's Eye View of the Hill” by Alessandro Anglisani/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Louis Jadot Wine Photographer of the Year – Places.
The photographic possibilities offered by drones are incredible. This image was taken in Oltrepò Pavese, and captures the Poggio Pregana hill from a bird's eye view. A magical place where excellent wine is produced and where you can spend wonderful moments in contact with nature or with friends. I shoot at dawn or dusk to capture these lights, and I enjoy these places to the fullest, in silence and admiration.
“Summer Chocolate Oyster Mushrooms Fans” by Kate Ireland/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for M&S Food Rising Star.
Close up detail of homegrown Summer Chocolate Oyster Mushrooms, showing the delicate fan like structure of the gills of the edible fungi.
“No Hands. No Cutlery” by Simon Biffen/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer.
This wedding at The Royal Crescent Hotel sees a group of friends enacting their traditional race to eat dessert without using hands or cutlery. The winner, who inhaled his in no time at all, celebrated emphatically whilst the others attempted to finish with various degrees of success and decorum.
“Saying Grace” by Sue O'Connell/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Fortnum & Mason Food at the Table.
These are the newest recruits to a nunnery near Yangon, Myanmar. They are likely to be orphans or refugees from fighting in the country but here they have found a place of refuge, security and companionship.
“The Pinks of La Feria” by Ana Sánchez-Moreno Royer/World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®. Shortlisted for Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration.
La Feria de Sevilla has always celebrated food: starting as a livestock fair in 1847, it has become a week-long revelry centered around 1000 casetas sharing tapas. Traditions are passed through food, dress and dance. No fair, however traditional, would be complete without the largest, pinkest cotton candy.
