World Food Photography Awards 2027

World Food Photography Awards 2027 is open, and its 16th edition once again puts food stories from around the world in front of an international judging panel and a London gallery audience. With a £5,000 top prize and a finalist exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries, the competition covers more than 25 categories spanning everything from food production and family life to portraiture, drinks, humanitarian stories and commercial work. Entries close on February 7, 2027, so those planning to submit have several months to prepare their strongest work. If you’re hunting the best photo contests online, this remains a broad international option centred entirely on food photography.

The awards welcome single images alongside dedicated portfolio categories. Opportunities range from an advertising commission with M&S Food to a £1,400 bursary and four-week residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation, RPS membership and publication, specialist category prizes and exhibition opportunities. Fees remain straightforward: adults pay £35 to enter up to six images, with additional entries at £7, while young photographers, eligible students and entrants to UK for UNHCR Food as Home have dedicated free-entry options.

Beyond the headline prize, the event has a clearly published route from submission to judging and exhibition. Shortlisted entrants are notified first, the public shortlist follows, winners are revealed on May 18, 2027, and finalist prints go on display from May 19 to 23 at the Mall Galleries. A hand-picked selection of finalist work will also be shown at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly. For photographers working in food & drink photography competitions, the World Food Photography Awards provides several possible routes from an online entry to physical exhibition and industry visibility.

The World Food Photography Awards 2027 Prizes

The overall prize remains £5,000, but the competition also offers category rewards, professional opportunities, a residency and exhibition access. The main prizes and opportunities include:

• Overall Winner
  • £5,000 cash prize
  • Dedicated winner profile on the awards website
  • International press promotion
  • Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London
• M&S Food Rising Star (portfolio)
  • Invitation to shoot an M&S Food advertising campaign
  • £500 commission fee
  • Travel and accommodation contribution up to £500 if required
• Award for Innovation supported by the Hugo Burge Foundation
  • £1,400 bursary
  • Four-week residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation
• Louis Jadot Wine Photographer of the Year
  • £1,000 cash prize for the overall category winner
• RPS Student Food Photographer of the Year
  • RPS membership for the winner and two runners-up
  • Publication of the winner’s work and an interview in the RPS Journal or Journal Extra Newsletter
• Jamie Oliver Youth Prize
  • Winners in both age groups, 12 & Under and 13–17, are invited to Jamie Oliver Headquarters in London with a parent or guardian
  • Travel and accommodation contribution up to £500 per winner if required
• The Bimi® Prize
  • Dinner for two at a Michelin-starred restaurant, or a restaurant of equivalent standard
  • Travel contribution of up to $500 per person
  • The winning image will feature on the 2027 Awards Evening invitation
• Exhibition & Event Access
  • All finalists are invited to the VIP Awards Evening at the Mall Galleries
  • All finalist works are exhibited at the Mall Galleries, London
  • A hand-picked selection of finalist images will also be displayed at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly
• Special note
  • Winners of certain categories and special prizes, including Louis Jadot Wine Photographer of the Year, World of Drinks, RPS Student, M&S Food Rising Star, Food Stylist, the Bimi® Prize and the Jamie Oliver Youth Prize categories, are not eligible for the Overall Winner title.

Categories or Themes

The World Food Photography Awards features a wide range of categories covering many aspects of food photography, from harvesting and humanitarian stories to studio work, commercial imagery and innovation. The 2027 edition also introduces A Feast of Flowers, a one-year-only category created to coincide with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

• Award for Innovation supported by the Hugo Burge Foundation
• A Feast of Flowers (new for 2027)
• Food for Sale
• Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration
• World Food Programme Food for Life
• Fortnum & Mason Food at the Table
• Food Portraiture
• Louis Jadot Wine Photographer of the Year
• Food Influencer
• Food in the Field
• Cake Award
• Food for the Family supported by Felix
• Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer
• Cream of the Crop
• Food Stylist Award (portfolio)
• M&S Food Rising Star (portfolio)
• The James Beard Foundation Photography Award
• World of Drinks
• Bring Home the Harvest
• Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers
• The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action supported by International Salon Culinaire
• On the Phone in support of Action Against Hunger
• UK for UNHCR Food as Home
• RPS Student Food Photographer of the Year
• Young (under 18), including the Jamie Oliver Youth Prize age groups
• Production Paradise Food off the Press

The Bimi® Prize is a special award rather than a directly enterable category. Eligible shortlisted photographs showing fresh fruit and/or vegetables may be considered automatically.

Dates and Entry Fees

Please take note of the key dates and submission fees for this World Food Photography Awards 2027.

Entry Fees:

• £35 for up to 6 images
• Additional entries: £7 each
• Portfolio categories:
  • £35 per portfolio of 5 images for M&S Food Rising Star
  • £35 per portfolio of 5 images for Food Stylist
• Mobile single entries:
  • On the Phone: £7 per image, with £2 from each entry donated to Action Against Hunger
• Free entries:
  • Young photographers aged 17 and under: up to 5 entries
  • RPS Student Food Photographer of the Year: up to 5 entries
  • UK for UNHCR Food as Home: up to 5 entries for photographers with a refugee background or experience of forced displacement

How to Enter:

Register an account, log in and upload the photographs before assigning them to the appropriate categories and completing payment. Initial entries must be JPG/JPEG or PNG files, no more than 1920 pixels along the longest dimension, without borders, watermarks, signatures, added text or identifying information in the filename. The same photograph can be entered into more than one category, with each submission using the relevant entry credit. Shortlisted photographers must be able to provide high-resolution files suitable for printing at A2 size.

About the Jury

The World Food Photography Awards 2027 global judging panel is chaired by David Loftus and brings together figures from photography, publishing, food, hospitality and the creative industries. Among the named jurors are Tom Athron of Fortnum & Mason, Robin Hammond, Fiona Shields of Guardian News & Media, Rein Skullerud of the United Nations World Food Programme, Clare Reichenbach of the James Beard Foundation, Karin van Gilst of Foam Photography Museum, chefs Javier and Sergio Torres, and many others.

Judging is multi-round and anonymous. Entries first go through preliminary category judging, after which shortlisted images are assessed by specialist panels of three or four judges. Category winners then go before the full panel, which collectively selects the Overall Winner.

Why Enter World Food Photography Awards 2027?

Factually, the World Food Photography Awards 2027 combines several different benefits: a recognized international competition, a London exhibition, global press activity and tangible extras such as cash prizes, exhibition, professional assignments and publication opportunities. The residency attached to the Award for Innovation adds another route for photographers whose work sits outside conventional food imagery.

Its broad category map is particularly significant. Food acts as the common subject, but the competition accommodates studio work, reportage, humanitarian photography, portraiture, weddings, commercial assignments, mobile photography and projects dealing with farming or food culture. That breadth gives photographers several ways to position an image without turning the Awards into a general open-theme contest. For readers looking beyond this event, discover other photography contests and awards curated on Deartline.

Rules and Copyright

We reviewed the official rules of the World Food Photography Awards 2027 to summarize the key participation requirements, copyright terms and image usage conditions. Before entering, we recommend checking the complete rules published by the organizer.

Rules

Adult entrants must be aged 18 or over on the closing date, while the Young competition is reserved for photographers aged 17 and under. Entries are accepted internationally.

Images must be original photographs and may be entered into more than one suitable category. Previously shortlisted photographs cannot be submitted again. Images may not contain identifying marks, watermarks, signatures or added text, and judges may move an entry to a more appropriate category.

Editing is permitted for conventional photographic adjustments, provided the integrity and subject matter of the image are not changed. Generative AI may not be used to create, replace, extend or materially reconstruct any visual element. Prohibited uses include text-to-image or image-to-image generation, Generative Fill, synthetic backgrounds or objects, and other generated content materially incorporated into the photograph.

Entrants should also avoid publicly identifying photographs as Awards entries before the shortlist is published, as judging remains anonymous until that stage.

Copyright and Image Usage

Copyright remains with the photographer, and the rules state that photographers are credited when their work is published by the organizers.

By entering, photographers grant the Awards a non-exclusive, irrevocable worldwide license to reproduce, publish, communicate and exhibit submitted images in connection with the competition and exhibition. Permitted uses include judging, exhibitions, portfolio books or magazines, interactive elements, promotional and press materials, marketing and merchandising associated with the Awards or exhibition.

Where a commercial opportunity is likely to provide a benefit to a winning photographer, the organizer states that permission will be requested in advance and separate terms and conditions agreed. Submitted photographs are also retained in a secure archive for promotional use connected with the Awards or exhibition; entrants may request removal from that archive after three years.

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For more information and to participate in the contest, visit: the official website.