National Geographic 2011 Photo Contest Winners

Every year National Geographic (hereafter NG) holds its global photography contest, drawing enthusiastic entries from photographers around the world. At the tail end of 2011, the year’s winning works were announced — each image a rare gem (blush).

The Index of National Geography Photo Contest 2011

As shown above, on the NG contest homepage, the photograph titled “Splashing” won both the Nature category and the overall grand prize. The image shows a dragonfly weathering wind and rain in its natural environment, captured by Shikhei Goh in Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia.

• Honorable Mention, Kent Shiraishi, Biei, Hokkaido, Japan — a blue lake tinted by underground hot springs.
• Honorable Mention, Angel Fitor, Mar Menor coastal lagoon, Murcia province, Spain — jellyfish chasing the morning light.
• Honorable Mention, Marius Coetzee, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania — zebras.
• Honorable Mention, Stefano Pesarelli, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya — the hunt.
• Viewer’s Choice, Dafna Ben Nun, North Russia — playful dolphins.

Nature

The People category winner was Izabelle Nordfjell, who photographed a reindeer hunter in a tense state of alert in Arjeplog, Lappland, Sweden. Though no matter how I look at it, that hunter seems to have run into a jungle monster.

• Honorable Mention, Lisa Clarke, Brisbane, Australia — a charity fundraising event with people in costume.
• Honorable Mention, George Voulgaropoulos, Sydney, Australia — young people on the street.
• Honorable Mention, Helen Pearson, Manhattan, NY, USA — the rap group G-side in rehearsal.
• Viewer’s Choice, Alessandro Citti, Lucca, Italy — a scene of the Last Supper performed by women.

People

The Landscape category winner was George Tapan, who photographed an island in the Philippines (Onuk Island, Balabac Palawan, Philippines).

• Honorable Mention, Hung-Hsiu Shih, Chinshan, Taiwan — an ancient and unique sulfur-fire fishing method.
• Honorable Mention, Felipe Carvalho, Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — signals sent to drug dealers via kites.
• Honorable Mention, Anuar Patjane, Bhaktapur, Nepal — a rainy street.
• Honorable Mention, James Vernacotola, Ponte Vedra, Florida, USA — the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.
• Honorable Mention, Alejandra Loreto, Hampi, India — the Krishna Temple.

Landscape

In this contest, we can see that a work by Hung-Hsiu Shih received an Honorable Mention. The work depicts a traditional fishing technique in the Chinshan area of Taiwan’s north coast: “sulfur-fire fishing.”

In the early days, because the Chinshan area sits right next to the Yangmingshan region with its rich sulfur veins, local fishermen used materials at hand and began using sulfur flames to catch fish (netizens point out it is the Japanese anchovy). Photos of this subject are also frequent guests at major domestic photography contests.