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Grand Prize Winner: Unreal"Thousands of Volkswagen and Audi cars sit idle in the middle of California’s Mojave Desert. Models manufactured from 2009 to 2015 were designed to cheat emissions tests mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Following the scandal, Volkswagen recalled millions of cars. By capturing scenes like this one, I hope we will all become more conscious of and more caring toward our beautiful planet."
Photograph and caption by Jassen Todorov, 2018 National Geographic Photo Contest

2018 National Geographic Photo Contest Winners

See the stunning images that captured the judges votes in the competition.

ByNational Geographic Staff
October 30, 2019

Which photos took top prizes in the 2018 National Geographic Photo Contest? Nat Geo editors and expert judges reviewed thousands of images before selecting the finalists. The grand prize winning photo was a powerful scene of airplanes in the California desert. Entries were submitted to three categories—wildlife, people, and places. Browse this gallery of winners to find out which images won and visit our contest homepage to explore even more photography.