The winners of the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest have been announced, and the final photographs are among the best we’ve ever seen. After poring over 9,200 entries, a panel of judges at National Geographic has chosen the cream of the crop. Here are 12 astounding photographs deemed to be the year’s best.
As always, photos were submitted in three categories: Nature, places, and people. They were assessed on creativity and photographic quality, with the grand prize winner taking home a $10,000 prize.
Grand Prize and People Winner
A Node Glows in the Dark… – view large photo
In the last 10 years, mobile data, smart phones and social networks have forever changed our existence. Although this woman stood at the center of a jam packed train, but the warm glow from her phone tells the strangers around her that she’s not really here. She managed to slip away from here, for a short moment, she’s a node flickering on the social web, roaming the earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here, we’re free to run away, and run we will.
Location: Hong Kong
Photo and caption by Brian Yen/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Nature Winner
The Great Migration – view large photo
Jump of the wildebeest at the Mara river. Location: North Serengeti, Tanzania
Photo and caption by Nicole Cambré/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Places Winner
Bathing in Budapest – view large photo
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Photo and caption by Triston Yeo/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention Nature
Muscle Power – view large photo
Location: Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India
Photo and caption by Archna Singh/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention Nature
Shoulder Creek – view large photo
Photo and caption by Henrik Nilsson/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention Nature
Stag Deer Bellowing – view large photo
Stag Deer Bellowing in Richmond Park. Location: Richmond Park, London, UK
Photo and caption by Prashant Meswani/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention Nature
On a windy day right after a Cyclone passed the far northern Great Barrier Reef I took some friends out to the reef. Never before I saw that many glass fish on this particular coral ‘bommie’.Just when I setup my camera, this Napoleon Wrasse swam right through the school of fish building a living frame. view large photo
Location: Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Flynn Reef, Australia
Photo and caption by Christian Miller/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention Nature
Dragon – view large photo
Ice art on the window. Location: Estonia Tabasalu
Photo and caption by Maie Kirnmann/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention People
The Storm – view large photo
During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Location: Kocaeli, Turky
Photo and caption by Aytül AKBAŞ/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention People
Tokyo – Shinagawa Station – view large photo
Photo and caption by Peter Franc/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention People
Temper – view large photo
A young girl throws a temper tantrum in a Bangkok shopping mall. June, 2014
Location: Bangkok, Thailand, Southeast Asia
Photo and caption by Adam Birkan/National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
Honorable Mention Places
Destroyed Homs – view large photo
Birds fly over the destroyed houses in Khalidiya district in Homs, Syria.
Photo and caption by Sergey Ponomarev/National Geographic 2014 Photo