© Susan Bell

The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year competition is opening itself up for its seventh year, with a host of new judges and brand new categories.

The Awards have a number of categories, which cover the full cultural range of the depiction of food in society – From styled food for magazines to images of families eating together in celebration of religious festivals, from depictions of the realities of food production to food growing in its natural setting.

The Pink Lady Food Photography Awards are after images that not only show technical skill, but originality with a real sense of connection with the subject matter. Whether simply an apple on a plate, a cake of spun sugar, a baker covered in flour at four in the morning, or a pot simmering on an open fire in the African bush.

© Mark Benham

New jurists for the competition include Ferran Adria, iconic chef of the oft-voted world’s best restaurant El Bulli, Jenna Close of the American Society of Media Photographers, photographer Henry Dallal, Sheila Dillon of Radio 4’s The Food Programme, and legendary 3-Michelin starred chef Pierre Koffman.

Plus, for the first time, the competition will be giving out an award to the best Student Food Photographer.

The Awards were first founded by Caroline Kenyon and her team at The Food Awards Company, after two decades of experience commissioning photography and desiring to see this wonderful and vibrant sector of photography given the recognition it deserves. Since 2011, more than 30,000 images have been submitted from across the world and almost 1 million people visited the award website.

© Robin Goodlad

“It just gets better and better each year – from Austria to Australia, Kuala Lumpur to Kent, the standard of entries is exceptional,” she writes.

“It’s so exciting to see the amount of recognition our winners receive in the media across the world. And it’s incredibly rewarding to hear about our finalists’ amazing success stories, photography commissions, road trips, invitations to host workshops and master classes in far-flung corners of the globe. That means a huge amount to my team and I.”

To find out more and enter, visit www.pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com. Entries close 6 February 2018.

© Janelle Bonifield