‘Moved to tears’: Winners of the 2026 World Food Photography Awards revealed

If we eat with our eyes, then the World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi is without doubt one of the most satisfying meals of the yr.

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The winners of the 2026 competitors have been introduced, with British photographer Jo Kearney taking the general prize for her portrait of a girl pouring tea at a Soviet-era sanatorium in Tajikistan.

Drawn from practically 9,000 entries throughout greater than 50 nations, this yr’s awards function the whole lot from rows of rickshaws overloaded with cabbage leaves in Bangladesh to ‘family portrait’ of eggplants.

A free exhibition of all 203 finalist photographs is on show at London’s Mall Galleries via 7 June, earlier than a choice of pictures heads to the luxurious division retailer Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.

Here is a choice of a few of this yr’s winners. To see the total assortment, together with finalists, go to The World Food Photography Awards web site here.

Overall winner – Jo Kearney, UK

British photographer Jo Kearney’s award-winning photograph captures a girl pouring tea within the Soviet-era Khoja Obi Garm sanatorium in Tajikistan. Caroline Kenyon, founding father of the World Food Photography Awards, mentioned the emotion within the photograph moved her to tears.

“There is so much to see and so much to feel in this image,” she mentioned in a press release. “She has seen much in life, we are sure, but holds her head high.”

The sprawling well being spa within the Hissar Mountains, exterior the capital Dushanbe, is one among few nonetheless working within the former Soviet republic – but it surely sits on radon-infused scorching springs. Although radon is poisonous, it’s believed to have medicinal advantages in small doses, and clients nonetheless flock right here for brief breaks within the radioactive swimming pools and steam rooms, in addition to wholesome meals and moments of calm throughout the advanced.

Bring Home the Harvest – Marco Rutten, The Netherlands

A crew hauls of their catch at daybreak on the Hooghly River close to Kolkata, India.

Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration – Pingyao Song, China

At a competition organised by China’s Zouchuan Hotpot model, crowds collect for soup simmered with chillis, fermented bean paste, Sichuan peppercorn and extra.

Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers – Kellie Carter, US

An aged girl affords fresh-baked goodies in Carter’s photograph, ‘Granny’s Welcoming Gift of Love’.

Food within the Field – Serkan Doğus, UK

A shepherd guides his flock down Mount Nemrut in japanese Turkey.

Jamie Oliver Youth Prize (13-17) – Indigo Larmour, India

Devotees pray to the solar god Surya and make choices for Chhath Puja in West Bengal, India.

Louis Jadot Wine Photographer of the Year (Produce) – Luke Carver, France

Carver provides vieweres a point-of-view perspective from inside a standard Georgian qvevri (winemaking amphora) in the course of the autumn harvest.

Politics of Food – Glenn Vanderbeke, Belgium

Vanderbeke profiles a feminine miller on the Vocational Training Center Irebero in Rwanda.

Street Food – Kara Baird, Australia

Shot in Kyoto, Baird’s photograph captures a fleeting second of tranquillity in bustling Nishiki Market.

The James Beard Foundation Photography Award – Daniel D Kwak, US

At Hadja Marley, a Senegalese restaurant in New York, a employee pauses from counting money to pose.

The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action – Lehóczki Balázs, Hungary

“Grandma went to the hairdresser, Grandpa shaved, and I filled their kitchen with studio gear,” says Balázs, who captured the couple in a quiet morning routine.