If an image is worth 1,000 words, hundreds of millions of words were submitted to the Smithsonian’s 13th annual photo contest.
A total of 329,940 photos were submitted to the contest from 231 countries. Winners were selected in eight categories: Natural World, Travel, People, The American Experience, Altered Images, Sustainable Travel, Readers Choice and photos taken with mobile devices. The winner of each category won bragging rights and $500, with the exception of the Sustainable Travel category winner, who won a pair of airline tickets to anywhere in North America, Central America, or the Caribbean. The grand prize winner won $2,500.
The 14th annual contest is currently open to entries and runs from March 22, 2016 to November 30, 2016.
Take a look through the winners of this year’s contest below, and browse through the rest of the finalists on Smithsonian.com.
‘Synchronous Fireflies’
‘Trucker Chapel’
‘The China Red’
‘A Little Monkey on a Cliff’
‘Lay Off’
‘Orient Express’
‘My Time’
