Today’s Pic: Kid Photo Contest Winners

They may not have yet hit puberty, but there’s a mature aesthetic evident in the winning photos in the third annualNational Geographic Kids International Photography contest. Simon Nikolaï van Lierde, 13, of The Hague, Netherlands, was named grand prize winner for the second consecutive year for this photograph of a girl surrounded by seaweed, submitted in the People category. Judges Melina Bellows, executive vice president of Children’s Publishing; Steve St. John, NG Image Collection senior editor; and Jay Sumner, NG Kids photo director, said that they found van Lierde’s photo to be “unusual and arresting.”

Burgeoning shutterbugs submittedmore than 13,000 entries, and were gathered by participating editions of NG Kids around the world. Check out the full gallery of photos, and remember the names, as we may be seeing more from them in years to come.

[National Geographic Kids International Photography Contest]