Best Pictures: Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners, 2010

Winner: Places

Photograph by Jana Asenbrennerova, NGPC

Workers expose a ship's innards in Chittagong, Bangladesh, one of the world's biggest ship graveyards.

Despite its unsafe work practices and pollution, the city represents "one of the biggest industry and job opportunities for many Bangladeshis," noted photographer Jana Asenbrennerova of San Francisco.

"I like how the photographer decided to shoot this quite tight, so we only see portions of the ship," said judge Sadie Quarrier, a National Geographic magazine senior photo editor. "This allows the eye to wander around and inspect all of the various pipes, parts, and people."

Published December 16, 2010

Winner: Grand Prize and Nature

Photograph by Aaron Lim Boon Teck, NGPC

A canceled trek turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for photographer Aaron Lim Boon Teck, who captured an active Indonesianvolcano in his image "Eruption of Gunung Rinjani."

"Trekkers [who] were able to make it up to the crater rim on time [were] able to camp overnight to witness the eruption [the] whole night long," Boon Teck, of Singapore, wrote with his submission to the 2010 National Geographic Photography Contest. "I wanted to share with everyone this experience of seeing many elements going on at a particular point in time."

Contest judge Joel Sartore said, "This image best represented the craft of photography.

"Not only is the light subtle and beautiful, and not only is it a lovely scene, but there's a volcanic eruption going on in the background," said Sartore, a contributing photographer to National Geographic magazine.

National Geographic magazine senior photo editor and judge Sadie Quarrier noted that combining multiple images into one stitched image "gives us a wide, powerful, and unique view."

As the grand-prize winner, Boon Teck's photograph will be published in National Geographic magazine. He'll also receive U.S. $10,000 and a trip to attend a photography seminar at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Published December 16, 2010

Honorable Mention

Photograph by Sean Heavey, NGPC

In a runner-up image by U.S. photographer Sean Heavey, a supercell thunderstorm roars across a prairie in Montana. These colossal storms include mesocyclones, rotating updrafts that can deliver torrential rain and tornadoes, according to NASA.

Professional and amateur photographers worldwide submitted 16,000 pictures to the contest, which was judged by National Geographic magazine contributing photographers Joel Sartore and Stephen Alvarez and National Geographic magazine senior photo editor Sadie Quarrier.

See more winning pictures from the National Geographic Photo Contest >>

Published December 16, 2010