Mira Power earned this honor after getting interested in photography about five years ago. (Submitted photo)
A photograph taken by Mirabel “Mira” Power was shortlisted and earned a “Commended” recognition from the World Food Photography Awards 2026 in the Jamie Oliver Youth Prize category.
Mira, 13, is an eighth grader living in Kissimmee with her parents, brother and sister and is home schooled.
The winning picture shows her father’s hands making Thai noodles. Mira’s mother is from Thailand.
“It really meant a lot to me to have noodles from one culture, but they were being made and passed on through another culture,” Mira explained. “I feel it speaks a lot to me because they’re from two different places, but they can come together and share it through food and photography.”
Mira says, to her, photography is more than simply taking pictures.
“Photography is putting a meaning to your pictures, because you can just take a picture and put it out there, but when you put a message to it, it makes it stronger and it helps to resonate with people,” she said.
Mira first got interested in photography about five years ago.
“My virtual school offers a lot of clubs. About five years ago I saw it when I was first starting out, and I thought it seemed interesting even though I hadn’t really done anything with it prior to that. I took the club and I really liked it. So, I kept taking it as well as whatever classes they offered.”
But it was her aunt’s gift of a Sony Digital camera with a large zoom lens a few years ago that took Mira’s interest to another level. That’s when she started to enter competitions.
“The club offers a lot of opportunities, and they would show you all the competitions you could enter. I really felt like there was no reason not to. It was a chance to share my story out with other people and get out in the world.”
Since then, Mira’s achievements include Honorable Mention in the National Arts Program at Osceola Arts and the People’s Choice award at the Living Lens exhibit in Funding Arts Broward. But she really enjoys the World Food Photography competition.
“I really think that food is something to be shared and stories and culture to be shared and so is photography. They’re both things I’m really passionate about. I love cooking and I love spreading my culture. So I think that this competition was perfect for me to enter because I could spread something that not a lot of people know about or spread a message about two things I’m really passionate about.”
Asked if she wants to be a professional photographer, she hesitated. “I’m not entirely sure. There’s a lot of things that I love and I want to pursue, but I definitely want to keep doing photography no matter what my main focus is because it’s definitely something that I love and a great way to express myself that not a lot of other things can do for me.”
Mira’s other interests include American Sign Language, she is president of her local club, and she also enjoys drawing, painting and crafting. “They’re all ways to express oneself,” she says.
Mira’s father, Brennen, says having a photographer in the family has been fun.
“It’s really upgraded our photos of the food that we’ve made and family gatherings. She has a different perspective in framing the shots than I do. I’m sort of a ‘Hey, look, a group of people,’ and I’ll take a picture. Mira definitely gets more artistic shots around the house and out in the yard.”
Her love of photography is evident.
“Whenever it’s nice out I like to go out to the park and photograph whatever I see. I’ll go out with my sister and we’ll do little shoots,” she says. “Also if I’m feeling tired or stressed I’ll just go out with my camera and photograph whatever I see because it helps me calm down.”
