DALLAS, Tex. -- The Oakland, California-based team of photographer Maren Caruso and food stylist Michael Recchiuti won the “Best in Show” award at a recent international food photography exhibit and contest held by the International Association of Culinary Professionals at its recent annual meeting in Dallas.

The winning image, “Chocolate Bowl,” depicted a large clear bowl of melted chocolate with chocolate flowing down the outside of the bowl. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area photographer Todd Trice and food stylist Dan Macey won first runner-up for their “Give me S’more,” a close-up image of a young boy biting into a melted S’more.

Both images were part of “The Subtle Art of Ooey Gooey” photo exhibition and contest arranged by the Food Photographers and Stylists Section of IACP. Entrants were judged by a jury of food professionals, who considered how well the photos depicted a host of “ooey gooey” foods such as chocolate, cheese, eggs, sauces and honey. These foods are considered to be the most difficult to photograph and style.

The People’s Choice award, voted on by members of the IACP who attended the annual meeting, was presented to Sacramento, California-based food stylist Irene Bertolucci and photographer Kent Lacin for their image “Chocolate by a Landslide,” a seemingly teetering, multi-layer chocolate cake with chocolate dripping off each layer. The People’s Choice first runners-up were Chicago, Illinois-based food photographer Eric Futran for his “Spread Clear Frosting,” an image of a hand dripping with clear frosting, and Houston, Texas-based food stylist Julie Hettiger and photographer Barry Frantich for their image “Truffle,” a close-up of a chocolate truffle just dipped into melted chocolate.

The awards were announced in Dallas on April 16, 2005 at a ceremony where members of IACP were recognized for their contributions to the industry and top cookbooks were named for the year.

Since 1978, The International Association of Culinary Professionals has promoted the interests of culinary professionals around the world. The not-for-profit professional association provides continuing education and development for over 4,000 members who are engaged in the areas of culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and drink, and include cooking teachers, food photographers and stylists, food writers, cookbook authors, publishers, editors, marketing communicators, food-related entrepreneurs and recipe testers and developers.