Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers: Meet the UK Shortlist for 2024 – Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

The shortlist for the Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers 2024 was recently announced. Part of the global Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Awards, this award aims to encourage and celebrate women photographers. We are delighted to share the photos by UK photographers shortlisted in this category.

Claire Aho, 1925-2015, was born into one of Finland’s greatest cultural and artistic dynasties. Given her first camera at the age of 10, she was a trailblazer in many ways – as a woman working as a commercial photographer from the late 1940s at a time when almost no women were working in this field, in her use of colour photography and in her unique photographic blend of style, wit and vitality.

“Her achievements and legacy are an inspiration to women everywhere to express themselves through the medium of photography and it made complete sense to us to commemorate her in this way.” said the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Awards.

Jussi Brofeldt, Claire Aho’s son and Chairman of the AHO & SOLDAN Photo and Film Foundation, Helsinki, Finland, said

“This is very meaningful for my family and me to have my mother celebrated in this way. We hugely look forward to receiving the entries and seeing work from around the world.”

Here are the UK shortlisted entries in this strong category:

Martha Makes Paella: Photography by Lynne Kennedy

Shall I Share It?: Photography  by Linda Gower 

Sweet Art: Photography by  Cath Lowe

In the Night Market: Photography by Stephanie Chadwick 

‘The Art of Convalescence’ Photography by Chloe Hardwick

Oil Bubbles: Photography by Evie Sarker

Essence Unearthed- Natural Sources of Food Supplements: Photography by Veega Tankun

All shortlisted in the Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers 2024 can be found here.

This year’s global judging panel, was chaired by legendary food photographer, David Loftus, and includes: Clare Reichenbach, CEO, the James Beard Foundation, Angela Nicholson, Founder of She Clicks, Asma Khan, Cookbook Author and Founder of Darjeeling Express, Sophia Longhi, Wine Writer and Communicator, Fiona Shields, Picture Editor, The Guardian,  and Ruth Alexander, Presenter of The Food Chain.

The winners will be revealed on Tuesday 4 June 2024 at an awards ceremony in London. The overall winner will take home a prize of £5,000.

An exhibition of all the finalist images will premiere at The Mall Galleries, London. The free-to-enter exhibition runs from Wednesday 5th June – Sunday 9 June and forms part of the first-ever Plate! St James’s, a new festival which will celebrate food, drink and photography from 5th – 23rd June.

View the full shortlist of all categories of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Awards here.

You may also be interested in the following: 

Feast for The Eyes – The Story of Food in Photography exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery 2019 – Women In the Food Industry Review and Food: Bigger than the Plate Exhibition at the V & A 2019 – Women In the Food Industry Review.