The 2025 World Food Photography Awards Shortlist Has Been Announced (31 Pics)

Bored Panda wanted to learn more about the contest and its highlights since it began in 2011, so we reached out to Caroline Kenyon, the founder of the awards, to ask her a few questions.

This year’s shortlisted entries are truly breathtaking, and we were curious to know if any particular themes emerged among the submissions. Here’s what Caroline shared with us: “Pigs! And more pigs! They are fascinating creatures, said to be highly intelligent, and also have such an interesting, often very varied appearance. Plus a lot of resonance with literature, especially children’s stories such as Charlotte’s Web, which, I am sure, makes us project all sorts of thoughts and ideas onto them. And a lot of images showing food producers—growing, making, preparing—which leads one to think that there is an increasing wish to know about the provenance of our food.”

When asked about the most surprising or unconventional food photograph to ever reach the finals, the founder of the World Food Photography Awards shared a few standout images that left a lasting impression on her: “It’s a tough choice but I think I’d say one of them is our Overall Winner in 2013—an image, Tasty Apple, by a Romanian photographer, Alexandrina Paduretu, who took a photograph of her grandfather, an elderly tailor, wearing a velvet padded coat he’d made himself, and eating an apple, with the juice running down his chin onto his coat. It was so incredibly simple but had so much love in it, and told a wonderful and multi-layered story about age, about a humble life, about connection with and joy from a very unadorned foodstuff.

Another one that comes to mind is a shot of a woman on her sofa eating her supper, closely watched by her cat, Family of Two by Sally Robinson. It was a Finalist in Food for the Family in 2015 and really prompted me to think about how one interprets the idea of family, that it can mean so much more than the conventional understanding of it.”

Food is deeply connected to culture, tradition, and storytelling. We asked Caroline Kenyon how, in her opinion, photography shapes the way we perceive food around the world. She responded: “It’s absolutely central to our understanding of food. We see this when people come to our exhibition—they find it completely gripping and that the 180-plus pictures have taken them on a huge global, intellectual and emotional journey, with shocking images showing the horrors of climate change or natural disaster, to pictures that make one laugh out loud. It’s a truism to say that a picture tells a thousand words, but that’s why it’s called a truism, because it is true. The impact is so immediate, so visceral, in a way that is so much harder for words.”

Lastly, Caroline Kenyon generously shared her advice for aspiring food photographers looking to enter the competition: “Be brave! Don’t compare yourself negatively with others, but look to their work for inspiration. By going through your archive of work, you will learn so much about what you have achieved over the year, and see themes and areas to develop. Just the process of entering will help you to grow as an artist. And then, you might be shortlisted, you might be a finalist, you might even win. And if you don’t get through the first time, try again. My mother always used to say to me if I had a disappointment, ‘Pick yourself up, dust yourself down—and go at it again.’ It’s a pretty good rule for life.”