Photo Credit: Winner, Ashley Vincent
Each year the leader in nature photography, National Geographic holds a contest for the best photos of the year. More than 22,000 entries were submitted from over 150 countries, with professional photographers and amateur photo enthusiasts across the globe participating. Photographs were submitted in three categories: people, places and nature. The competition was judged on creativity and photographic quality by a panel of experts comprised of natural history photographer Christian Ziegler and documentary photographers Gerd Ludwig and Debbie Fleming Caffery.
Click here to view the winning photographs: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2012/entries/gallery/nature-winners/#/5