This year's Viewers' Choice winner, "Another Perspective of the Day," shows fisherman at Bira Beach, Indonesia. (Photograph by Dody Kusuma)

The Best Travel Photos of 2013

August 2, 2013
3 min read

The 25th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest has been a long, strange, and beautiful trip. We loved every minute of it, and we hope you did, too.

Our panel of judges had their work cut out for them since the contest closed on June 30, sifting through more than 15,000 entries submitted by an eccentric lot of seasoned and amateur photographers from around the world to come up with three grand-prize winners.

Here they are in all their stunning glory:  

First Prize

Our grand-prize winner, Wagner Araujo, was in Manaus during the Brazilian Aquathlon (swimming and running) championship in Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon River. "My lens got completely wet," he says, "but there was so energy in [these] boys that I just didn't worry about that." (Photograph by Wagner Araujo)
Wagner Araujo was in Manaus to photograph the Brazilian Aquathlon championship. “My lens got completely wet,” he says, “but there was so energy in [these] boys that I just didn’t worry about that.” (Photograph by Wagner Araujo)

Second Prize

Second-place winner Max Seigel writes: "I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through creating this dramatic image." (Photograph by Max Seigel)
Second-place winner Max Seigel writes: “I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through creating this dramatic image.” (Photograph by Max Seigel)

Third Prize

Our third-place winner, "Say Cheese" was taken in Masai Mara National Park in Kenya. (Photograph by Yanai Bonneh)
Yanai Bonneh shot our third-place winner, “Say Cheese,” in Masai Mara National Park in Kenya. (Photograph by Yanai Bonneh)
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Did your favorites make the cut? Check out our gallery to see the rest of this year’s winners. All ten prize-winning photos — three grand-prize winners, plus seven merit winners — will also appear in the year-end issue of Traveler magazine and on the National Geographic website.

And while judges will judge, let’s not count out this year’s Viewers’ Choice winner, seen at top, captured by Dody Kusuma.

Missed entering this year’s contest? There’s always next year…