Smithsonian Photo Contest

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Photograph by Sergio Carbajo Rodriguez (La Garriga, Spain). Portrait of a young Suri boy going with his father to take care of the cattle. (Ethiopia, August 2013, Nikon D600)

NATURAL WORLD CATEGORY WINNER: Photograph by Graham McGeorge (Jacksonville, Florida). McGeorge spent a quiet 6 hours trying to get the perfect image of this eastern screech owl out of its nest. (Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, April 2013, Canon 1D Mark III)

TRAVEL CATEGORY WINNER: Photograph by Nidal Adnan Kibria (Dhaka, Bangladesh). Action Hero. As part of a show called "Well of Death," a biker performs a stunt at a village fair to celebrate Rath Jatra, a Hindu festival.
(Dhamrai, Bangladesh, June 2012, Lumix FZ 100)

PEOPLE CATEGORY WINNER: Photograph by Simon Morris (Bridgend, United Kingdom). An eagle hunter on a steppe in Mongolia rests with his Golden Eagle. (Mongolia, February 2013, Nikon D700)

AMERICANA CATEGORY WINNER: Photograph by Willie Huang (Sunnyvale, California). A beautiful sunrise forms over an amazing set of ancient petroglyphs facing the heavens with the Eastern Sierras in the backdrop. "I have always been fascinated seeing ancient ruins and artwork that tell a story of America's past," says Huang. (Eastern Sierras, California, March 2013, Canon 5D Mark II)

ALTERED IMAGE CATEGORY WINNER: Photograph by Shamma Esoof (Cyberjaya, Malaysia). Portrait of a dominant male mandrill. "What struck me the most about this individual was his deep compelling eyes," says Esoof.
(Malacca, Malaysia, July 29, 2011, Nikon D90)

MOBILE CATEGORY WINNER: Photograph by César Rodríguez (Tepic, Mexico). This is at the "Lienzo El Dorado," a local Charreria tournament. "The Charreria is Mexico´s only national sport.[...] The Charreria is a way of life, not just a sport and the Charros practice all their life in order to be one of the best in the whole nation," says Rodríguez. (Tepic, Mexico, 2013, iPhone 4)

READERS' CHOICE WINNER:Photograph by Candy Feng (Starkville, Mississippi). Feng's son is dwarfed by the looming majesty of a glacier at Fjallsárlón. "I stood there for a while, contemplating and admiring. I wanted to remember that moment forever," says Feng. (Fjallsárlón Glacier, Iceland, June 2013, Canon 40D)

Photograph by Eko Adiyanto (Bekasi, Indonesia). FINALIST: Natural World | To capture a wasp standing on grass, Adiyanto discovered the best time to photograph the insects was around 6 in the morning, just after they woke.
(Kāʻanapali, Hawaiʻi, November 10, 2012, Nikon D90)

Photograph by Daniel D'Auria (Tabernacle, New Jersey). FINALIST: Natural World | A coastal brown bear hunts for salmon on Silver Salmon Creek in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. According to D'Auria, "she epitomizes the raw beauty and awesome power of the Alaskan wilderness." (Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, August 2012, Canon 1D Mark IV)

Photograph by John Matzick (Port Hadlock, Washington). FINALIST: Natural World | A seagull shortly after takeoff from an unusually placid Bering Sea. (Adak Island, Alaska, 2012, Sony SLT-A77)

Photograph by Richard Masters (Quebec City, Canada). FINALIST: Natural World | "Absolute Head Scratcher" is an image of a blue macaw. (Quebec City, Canada, July 2012, Canon EOS 60D)

Photograph by Aspen Wang (Hong Kong, Hong Kong). FINALIST: Natural World | Penguins on Ice. "Although my photo hardly does justice to describing the tenuous balance in Antarctica's ecosystem, it has served to crystallize in my memory one of the last stretches of untamed and inarticulate lands on earth," says Wang. (Antarctica, December 29, 2010, Canon PowerShot SX1 IS)

Photograph by Seyms Brugger (Johannesburg, South Africa). FINALIST: Natural World | After having finished off a springbok, these two cheetah cubs were chasing each other, each wanting to hold on to the 'prize,' a piece of skin left over from a kill. Knowing the cubs would follow their mother, Brugger moved his car and was shocked that, "the cubs not only walked straight towards my vehicle, but decided that they would chase each while playing with a piece of Springbok skin." (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa, June 15, 2013, Canon EOS-1D X)

Photograph by Christopher Doherty (North Palm Beach, Florida). FINALIST: Natural World | Breath at sunset, captures a sea turtle at a dive site called Black Rock. (Kāʻanapali, Hawaiʻi, August 2013, Nikon D7000)

Photograph by Karen Lunney (Brisbane, Australia). FINALIST: Natural World | During their annual migration, wildebeests are forced to find new river crossings in the Serengeti-Mara region. "The animals were being taken by the unfamiliar currents of deep water and had to struggle to get close to the far bank. There were few rocks on which to land and the initial orderly progression soon became a desperate struggle of clambering," says Lunney. (Mara River, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, September 2013, Leica M240typ)

Photograph by José De Rocco (Buenos Aires, Argentina). FINALIST: Natural World | Snails in Argentina. (Pinamar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 2012, Canon EOS 5D)

Photograph by Pyiet Oo Aung (Yangon, Myanmar). FINALIST: Travel | A young monk. (Innwa, Myanmar, December 2012, Canon EOS 7D)

Photograph by Matthew Zheng (San Francisco, California). FINALIST: Travel | "Navajo Bridge" is an image overlooking the Colorado River's Marble Canyon. (Page, Arizona, August 2012, Canon 5D Mark II)

Photograph by Porus Khareghat (Mumbai, India). FINALIST: Travel | Sun painting a monastery and the surrounding Ladakh landscape. (Ladakh, India, July 2013, Canon 5D Mark II)

Photograph by Ken Lee (Lake Balboa, California). FINALIST: Travel | Ricardo Breceda's sculpture garden. Lee waited for a moonless night to capture the Milky Way, and he light painted the sculptures to "conjure up a sort of 1950s sci-fi movie feel, with two atomic creatures doing battle under the stars." (Borrego Springs, California, August 2013, Nikon D7000)

Photograph by Stefano Coltelli (San Miniato, Italy). FINALIST: Travel | Neist Point Lighthouse at dusk. (Isle of Skye, United Kingdom, August 2013, Nikon D600)

Photograph by Vo Anh Kiet (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). FINALIST: Travel | Terraced fields during harvest season. (Mu Cang Chay, Vietnam, September 2012, Canon 5D Mark II)

Photograph by Aung Pyae Soe (Yangon, Myanmar). FINALIST: Travel | A fisherman on Inle Lake. (Inle Lake, Myanmar, November 2013, Canon EOS 1DX)

Photograph by David Koester (Halle, Germany). FINALIST: Travel | Hiking break at Devil's Wall. "Devil's Wall and the Harz region had always been an inspirational source for German poets and artists like Brothers Grimm or Caspar David Friedrich. My aim was to elaborate this natural topic with the medium of contemporary photography combined with that kind of certain romantic imagery of times past," says Koester. (Devil's Wall, Harz Mountains, Germany, June 2013, Nikon D800)

Photograph by Nguyễn Bảo Sơn (Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Ninh Thuận, Vietnam). FINALIST: People | While taking this image in rural Vietnam, the wind was so strong it knocked over Bảo Sơn. After quickly standing up, Bảo Sơn made this image.
(Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Ninh Thuận, Vietnam, November 2011, Canon 4000D)

Photograph by Diego Arroyo (Madrid, Spain). FINALIST: People | A Hamar man collecting firewood. (Omo Valley, Ethiopia, September 2012, Canon 5D Mark II)

Photograph by Soheil Zandazar (Tehran, Iran). FINALIST: People | Mourners cover themselves in mud while beating their chests and standing around a fire for warmth during Ashura, a religious commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein. (Khorramabad, Iran, November 2012, Nikon D700)

Photograph by Yasir Nisar (Lahore, Pakistan). FINALIST: People | A devotee at Mela Chiraghan, an annual Festival of Lights in Pakistan. He was standing in front of a huge fire, casting the orange glow in the background. (Lahore, Pakistan, March 2011, Canon 40D)

Photograph by Caine Delacy (Boulder, Colorado). FINALIST: People | Delacy photographed Mr. Tadi, who has been spear fishing his entire life. "Each day he paddles his canoe out to the coral reefs to spear fish to feed his family and to generate a small income," says Delacy. (Wakatobi, Indonesia, August 6, 2012, Nikon D300)

Photograph by Dusan Ignac (Svidník, Slovakia). FINALIST: People | Power of Will was taken during one of the last obstacles of a Spartan Race. "In spite of the great exhaustion he managed to overcome this obstacle in order to cross the finish line," says Ignac. (Vechec, Slovakia, August 2013, Canon 1000D)

Photograph by David Lazar (Brisbane, Australia). FINALIST: People | High in the mountains, a group of children play with a homemade soccer ball. (Quthing, Lesotho, December 2011, Nikon D700)

Photograph by Vincent Cheng (Burnaby, Canada). FINALIST: People | A group of locals playing billiards by Namtso Lake. (Tibet, China, June 2013, Nikon D3000)

Photograph by Benjamin Ginsberg (Huntington Beach, California). FINALIST: Americana | The fishing vessel Pamela Rose, part of the historic Dory Fleet, heads out of Newport Bay. (Newport Beach, California, July 2012, Nikon D300)

Photograph by Abigail Friel (Northampton, Massachusetts). FINALIST: Americana | Feeding time on Hettie Belle Farm. (Warwick, Massachusetts, February 2013, Nikon D5100)

Photograph by Karen Hosking (Nahant, Massachusetts). FINALIST: Americana | Teenagers hanging out at night in a small town. (Nahant, Massachusetts, August 2013, Nikon D700)

Photograph by Michael Faist (Hilliard, Ohio). FINALIST: Americana | Sunrise at Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park. "The barn in the photo is the John Moulton Barn, built by Mormon settlers who arrived in the area in the 1890s. Behind the barn is the Teton mountain range," says Faist. (Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, June 27, 2013, Nikon D5100)

Photograph by Michael Anglin (San Angelo, Texas). FINALIST: Americana | Mark Duncan and his horse Blue Duck. "I got down in the dirt, adjusted my exposure, and told him to blast past me as close as he could. He did. I could feel them thunder by as the rope swooshed just above my head," says Anglin. (San Angelo, Texas, June 2013, Canon 5D Mark III)

Photograph by Mark Kaplan (Carrollton, Texas). FINALIST: Americana | Dust swirls around citizens of Black Rock City as they peek into the "Black Rock Bijou Theatre," an art installation at the 2013 Burning Man festival. (Black Rock City, Nevada, August 2013, Nikon D7100)

Photograph by Troi Anderson (Portland, Oregon). FINALIST: Americana | A classic American car in the deserts of Colorado. "I found this car, a 1958 Oldsmobile, just as the winter sunset began to climax above the desert top of Mesa Verde.[...] The silence surrounding the desert lent a feeling of melancholy for an era I would never know, but felt I was catching a last glimpse of," says Anderson. (Cortez, Colorado, January 2012, Canon 5D)

Photograph by Carol Lynne Fowler (Seeley Lake, Montana). FINALIST: Americana | A champion bronco bucks a champion rider at the Helmville Rodeo. (Helmville, Montana, September 2013, Canon 5D Mark III)

Photograph by Nicolas Reusens (Madrid, Spain). FINALIST: Altered Images | A red-eyed tree frog underwater. (El Arenal, Costa Rica, March 2013, Canon 5D Mark III)

Photograph by Peter Zajfrid (Ruše, Slovenia). FINALIST: Altered Images | Coming Over, shows a cold morning sunrise on Pohorje Hills. (Šmartno, Slovenia, December 2012)

Photograph by Craig Bill (Midland, Texas). FINALIST: Altered Images | A day in the Japanese Gardens. (Portland, Oregon, October 2012)

Photograph by Gisele Cassarotti Prescott (Pahoa, Hawai'i). FINALIST: Altered Images | In creating In Wonderland #6: Red Queen Marching, Cassarotti Prescott says she wanted to bring back memories from her childhood. "Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was part of my childhood, and I believe it was part of many generations before and after me." (Pahoa, Hawai'i, May 8, 2013, Canon 5D Mark II)

Photograph by Andrzej Bochenski (Łódź, Poland). FINALIST: Altered Images | Warsaw Bridge on the banks of the Vistula River. (Warsaw, Poland, May 2012, Canon 5D Mark III)

Photograph by Michael Frank (Rochester, New York). FINALIST: Altered Images | Frank says what strikes him most about this image of the abandoned Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church is, "the sense of stillness. A stillness marked by anticipation, not unlike the stillness felt in a theater between acts." (Detroit, Michigan, October 2013, Canon 7D)

Photograph by Pistolwish (El Segundo, California). FINALIST: Altered Images | Raven Fall is an image of ravens flying over oak trees in autumn. (Los Angeles, California, November 2013, Fuji x-Pro 1)

Photograph by Mohd Irman Ismail (Shah Alam, Malaysia). FINALIST: Altered Images | Portrait of a Mentawai, the native people of the Mentawai Islands. They live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle in coastal and rainforest environments. (Pulau Siberut, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia, September 14, 2013, Nikon D7000)

Photograph by Dina Bova (Petach Tikva, Israel). FINALIST: Altered Images | "Babylon - Made in Italy is inspired by the story of the Babylon tower, the painting by Pieter Bruegel and by a trip to the beautiful Cinque Terre in Italy," says Bova. (Cinque Terre, Italy, October 2013)

Photograph by Darlene Jensen (Richmond Hill, Georgia). FINALIST: Mobile | "The scene is of the clouds rolling in, and a sailboat that was anchored, and preparing for the storm. I loved the simplicity of the scene. Within minutes from the photograph being taken, it was raining so hard that you could not see anything.[...] I am reminded that even in the midst of a storm, there is beauty, if you choose to see it," says Jensen. (St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, July 1, 2012, iPhone 4)

Photograph by Tandis Khodadadian (Woodland Hills, California). FINALIST: Mobile | The image of a blue arch of a mosque, "was taken in my birthplace which I visited after ten years," says Khodadadian. (Esfahan, Iran, April 1, 2013, iPhone 4S)

Photograph by John Gamble (San Francisco, California). FINALIST: Mobile | Meeting face to face with a snow monkey, Gamble says he was able to get within a foot of this Japanese macaque at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. (Nagano, Japan, December 2012, iPhone 5)

Photograph by Michael Hill (Orlando, Florida). FINALIST: Mobile | A portrait of my friend, Tasha. (Orlando, Florida, March 2013, iPhone 5)

Photograph by Chaz Wilke (Los Angeles, California). FINALIST: Mobile | "I risked life and phone," says Wilke of his image of Leeloo at Cannon Beach. (Cannon Beach, Oregon, June 1, 2013, iPhone 4S)

Photograph by Michael Mangano (Modesto, California). FINALIST: Mobile | Sunrise at Burning Man. (Black Rock, Nevada, August 2011, mobile)

Photograph by James Gardner (Verona, Wisconsin). FINALIST: Mobile | Going down the slide at the pumpkin patch and corn maze. (Lodi, Wisconsin, October 12, 2013, iPhone 5S)

Photograph by Victoria Martin (Elton, United Kingdom). FINALIST: Mobile | Wilted is an image of English bramble flowers which produce blackberries and brambles. (Shropshire, United Kingdom, August 1, 2013, iPhone 4S)

Photograph by Cammie Cooley (Ragley, Louisiana). FINALIST: Mobile | The fog slowly lifts while tour guides in traditional antebellum dress get ready for their tours at Oak Alley Plantation. (Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana, October 27, 2013, iPhone 5)

Announcing Our 11th Annual Photo Contest Winners

See our winners and finalists, selected from over 50,000 entries

smithsonianmag.com
April 8, 2014

We're proud to announce the winners of our 11th Annual Photo Contest! These beautiful images were selected from over 50,000 entries submitted by photographers in 132 different countries. Our photo editors selected seven winners -- a Grand Prize winner and a winner in each of the six categories: Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, Altered Images and Mobile. An eighth winner, the Readers' Choice winner, was selected by our readers in a month long vote here on this page. Congratulations to all our award recipients!

In the gallery above, you can also view additional finalists in each category.

Thank you to all who submitted. Our 12th Annual Photo Contest is now open, and our 2nd Annual In Motion Video Contest is open until May 31, 2014. We look forward to seeing your best new work!

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