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Pakistani Top Chef contestant Fatima Ali has won a posthumous award for her writing.

Fatima, who lost her battle against cancer earlier this year, has been awarded the 2019 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award for her personal essay, “I’m a Chef with Terminal Cancer. This Is What I’m Doing with the Time I Have Left”.

The chef wrote the short form for Bon Appétit magazine.

The 29-year-old, who was voted 'fan favourite' on the show, had in October 2018 penned the op-ed for the magazine, in which she shared that she has a year to live and intends to use it to make amends with the people in her life and to sample the finest food all over the world.

Fatima had appeared on season 15 of reality competition show Top Chef as a contestant and was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer — Ewing's Sarcoma — right after. Chemotherapy appeared to benefit her initially but cancer returned in September last year with doctors telling her it has metastasized.