<p><strong>Children comfort each other in a scrapyard in Kathmandu, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/nepal-guide/">Nepal</a>, in a 2011 image by photographer Chan Kwok Hung of <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/hong-kong-china/">Hong Kong</a>. The picture, an entry in the "Quality of Life" category, won top honors in the 2011 Environmental Photographer of the Year awards, whose winners were announced last week.</strong></p><p>The children live with their grandmother and search the scrapyard for things to sell, using the money to buy food, according to the photographer. "They had found nothing for a few days," he said in a statement.</p><p>More than a third of Nepal's 12.6 million children live below the poverty line, according to a 2010 report by UNICEF. An even higher number suffer from malnutrition and lack of access to education.</p><p>Organized by the London-based <a href="http://www.ciwem.org/about.aspx">Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management</a>, the Environmental Photographer of the Year contest honors amateur and professional photographers who "raise awareness of environmental and social issues."</p><p>Compared to 2010, submissions this year doubled to over 10,000 pictures, which came from photographers in 105 countries.</p><p>(<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/photogalleries/100928-best-environmental-photos-2010-rays-pictures/">See the best environmental photos of 2010</a>.)</p><p><em>—Korena Di Roma</em></p>