Deadline: 7 February 2027
World Food Photography Awards 2027
Organizer
World Food Photography Awards.
Location
A global international photography competition open to photographers worldwide.
Deadline
Submission deadline: 7 February 2027.
Winners announced: 18 May 2027 (VIP Awards Evening, London).
Competition Category
More than 25 categories covering food in every context — from growing, harvesting, and preparing to cooking, eating, celebrating and surviving. Categories explicitly announced include:
01. Bring Home the Harvest;
02. Food for Sale;
03. Food Portraiture;
04. World of Drinks;
05. Award for Innovation — for the first time, this category's winner receives a dedicated bursary and residency;
06. Feast of Flowers — a special new one-year-only category for 2027 exploring the relationship between food and flowers;
07. Young categories — for photographers aged 17 and under;
08. Student categories — eligible student categories;
09. Portfolio categories — with separate fees;
plus 25+ other categories spanning the full narrative of food. The full category list is on the official website's categories page. The same photograph may be submitted to multiple categories if it meets the criteria; each submission counts as a separate entry.
Eligibility
Open to amateur and professional photographers worldwide:
- Adult entrants must be at least 18 years old on the closing date;
- Young categories: for photographers aged 17 or under;
- Student categories: eligible student entrants;
- Photographs may have been taken at any time; previously published images may be eligible depending on the chosen category;
- Images that have already won the overall title of another photography competition are ineligible;
- Images must originate from a camera capture; generative AI may not be used to create, replace, extend or materially reconstruct visual elements.
Entry Fee
Paid (tiered):
- Adult entrants: £35 per entrant, covering up to six photographic entries; each additional entry costs £7;
- Young and eligible Student categories: free, with up to five entries each;
- Portfolio and certain other categories have separate fees.
- Overall Winner: £5,000 cash;
- Award for Innovation: £1,400 bursary plus a four-week residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation (newly introduced this year);
- Exhibition: all finalist images exhibited at Mall Galleries, London, with a selection displayed at Fortnum & Mason;
- VIP Awards Evening: all finalists invited to the VIP ceremony on 18 May 2027 in London, held in conjunction with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The 2027 global judging panel is chaired by David Loftus, one of the most widely published food photographers in the world.
Core Introduction
The World Food Photography Awards is one of the most highly regarded international food photography competitions, now in its 16th edition for 2027. Sponsored by Tenderstem® Bimi® Broccolini, it invites amateur and professional photographers worldwide to share images that tell food stories through documentary, portrait, travel, landscape and other approaches — spanning growing, harvesting, cooking, eating, celebrating and surviving. With more than 25 categories covering the full narrative of food, the 2027 edition introduces a special one-year-only category "Feast of Flowers" to celebrate food and flowers (coinciding with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show) and debuts a dedicated bursary and residency for the Award for Innovation winner. The Overall Winner receives £5,000, all finalist images are exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London (with a selection at Fortnum & Mason), and finalists are invited to the VIP Awards Evening on 18 May 2027. The judging panel is led by David Loftus and includes experts from the UN World Food Programme, the James Beard Foundation, Fortnum & Mason, and three-Michelin-starred chefs. Past finalists have reported significant career opportunities arising directly from exposure through the awards' shortlist.
