The votes are in, and the winners of the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2019 awards have been announced. In a ceremony at the Mall Galleries in Mayfair that was a real must-visit for anyone with even a vague interest in art and eating, winners claimed their prestigious awards for their work in photography and film, all centred around food and drink. And winning one of these awards was no mean feat. There were more than 9,000 entries submitted from 77 countries around the world – the largest number ever received – which were judged by the likes of legendary food photographer David Loftus; chef and food campaigner Alice Waters; Vitalie Taittinger of Champagne Taittinger; Dr Michael Pritchard, Director-General of the Royal Photographic Society; and underwater photographer His Excellency Ali Bin Thalith, Secretary General of HIPA (Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award).

While there were amazing entries (and winners) across all the categories, we were particularly interested in the Winterbotham Darby Food Film Shorts category, for which we were a proud media partner. The competition for this year's Winterbotham Darby Food Film Shorts competition was perhaps the fiercest yet. With a selection of ace food film shorts spanning from just a few seconds to three minutes long, each film was capable of making you hungry, making you think, making you smile, or simply captivating you. Cooking is an art form of its own and it was inspiring to see such a large number of films that took that creativity and ramped it up to the next level. Simply put: this year's line-up was filled with shorts that all brought something fresh, new and exciting to the table.

The winner, 'Black Sesame', was an evocative short that documented the creation of Chef Maya Erickson's black sesame dessert. Erickson created this dessert while working as the pastry chef at Lazy Bear, a San Francisco restaurant that grew from the cult-like following of an underground supper club and whose own chef/owner David Barzelay received the nod as a 2016 Food and Wine Best New Chef.

Watch the full film below:

Elsewhere, Chinese photographer Jianhui Liao was named as the overall winner of the Food Photographer of the Year 2019 contest.

See all of the category winners, shortlisted entries and shorts at pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com