Can You Make the Cut?

The 25th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest has been moving full steam ahead, and we’ll be publishing the first round of stand-out submissions in each category — Outdoor Scenes, Sense of Place, Spontaneous Moments, and Travel Portraits — next week.

Enter today for your chance to have your entry featured appear on the National Geographic website in the first batch of galleries. Here’s a sneak preview of our editors’ favorites so far:

Sense of Place Category: “The Galactic Squid”

While on a night dive in the waters off Okinawa Japan this reef squid showed up. The time and air I spent trying to get close to him paid off. (Photograph and caption by Cameron Knudsen)

 Outdoor Scenes Category: “Midnight Tree” I hiked several hours through the night in Patagonia to find a tree I had seen a few days earlier and photograph it with the night sky. (Photograph and caption by Max Seigal) Travel Portraits Category: “Guardian of the Mountain” Hajj claims to be 112 years old. He knew the Europeans that made the first recorded ascent of North Africa’s highest mountain, Toubkal, in 1923. (Photograph and caption by Joshua Exell) Spontaneous Moments Category: “Light-Footed Penguin”

Traveler magazine will be awarding seriously spectacular prizes this year, so enter today for your chance to win. 

The prizes: The grand-prize winner will earn two spots on a 10-day trip to the Galápagos with National Geographic Expeditions to experience — and document — some of the most spectacular wildlife on Earth. Other prizes include an intensive 7-day Santa Fe photography workshop, a 6-day cruise for two on a windjammer schooner in Maine, and $200 gift certificates to B&H Photo. Best of all, the ten prize-winning photos will appear in the year-end issue of Traveler magazine and on the National Geographic website!

The deadline: June 30, 2013

The cost: $15 per entry

So what are you waiting for? Read the rules and fine print, check out last year’s winners for inspiration, then submit your best travel photos today for a chance to show off your talents in a big way.

See all the photos that have been submitted so far and vote for your favorites at NationalGeographic.com/TravelerPhotoContest.