National Geographic Photo Contest Winners

By Claire O'Neill

Published January 7, 2013 at 11:07 AM CST

1 of 12 — "The Matterhorn ... at full moon."

"A race that follows in the path of the famous explorer Roald Amundsen brings the contestants to the Hardangervidda Mountainplateu, Norway. ... [The] exact same route Amundsen used to prepare for his South Pole expedition in 1911 is still used by explorers today."

2 of 12 — "A race that follows in the path of the famous explorer Roald Amundsen brings the contestants to the Hardangervidda Mountainplateu, Norway. ... [The] exact same route Amundsen used to prepare for his South Pole expedition in 1911 is still used by explorers today."

3 of 12 — "The subject's name is Busaba, a well-cared-for Indochinese Tigress, whose home is at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand."

"With his exceptional hearing, a red fox has targeted a mouse hidden under 2 feet of crusted snow. Springing high in the air he breaks through the crusted spring snow with his nose, and his body is completely vertical as he grabs the mouse under the snow."

4 of 12 — "With his exceptional hearing, a red fox has targeted a mouse hidden under 2 feet of crusted snow. Springing high in the air he breaks through the crusted spring snow with his nose, and his body is completely vertical as he grabs the mouse under the snow."

"Glacial ice washes ashore after calving off [a] glacier on Iceland's eastern coast. During the waning light of summer this image was created over the course of a 4-minute exposure while the photographer backlit the grounded glacial ice with a headlamp for 2 of those 4 minutes."

5 of 12 — "Glacial ice washes ashore after calving off [a] glacier on Iceland's eastern coast. During the waning light of summer this image was created over the course of a 4-minute exposure while the photographer backlit the grounded glacial ice with a headlamp for 2 of those 4 minutes."

"Yayasan Galuh Rehabilitation Center is an impoverished mental health facility based in Bekasi, Indonesia, that hosts over 250 patients. Most come from poor families no longer interested in managing their condition, or are unable. Some patients are homeless, deposited after being taken off streets by police. ... Over one-third of the patients are shackled in chains."

6 of 12 — "Yayasan Galuh Rehabilitation Center is an impoverished mental health facility based in Bekasi, Indonesia, that hosts over 250 patients. Most come from poor families no longer interested in managing their condition, or are unable. Some patients are homeless, deposited after being taken off streets by police. ... Over one-third of the patients are shackled in chains."

7 of 12 — "The winter gloomy day worked to my advantage to create this eerie feeling of the famous landmark Eiffel tower."

"Chipping ice off an iceberg is a common way for the Inuit community to retrieve fresh drinking water while on the land. During a weekend-long hunting trip, we came upon this majestic iceberg frozen in place. It was a perfect opportunity to grab enough ice and drinking water for the remainder of the trip.'

8 of 12 — "Chipping ice off an iceberg is a common way for the Inuit community to retrieve fresh drinking water while on the land. During a weekend-long hunting trip, we came upon this majestic iceberg frozen in place. It was a perfect opportunity to grab enough ice and drinking water for the remainder of the trip.'

"Stilt fishing is a typical fishing technique only seen in Sri Lanka. The fishermen sit on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole planted into the coral reef."

9 of 12 — "Stilt fishing is a typical fishing technique only seen in Sri Lanka. The fishermen sit on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole planted into the coral reef."

10 of 12 — "I was very lucky of sighting and photographing Malaika, the name of female Cheetah, and her cub."

"This photo of a wild, Alaskan, brown bear digging on a game trail was taken with a homemade motion-controlled triggering device hooked up to my DSLR."

11 of 12 — "This photo of a wild, Alaskan, brown bear digging on a game trail was taken with a homemade motion-controlled triggering device hooked up to my DSLR."

"I was surrounded by thousands of fish that moved in synchrony because of the predation that was happening. It was an incredible experience."

12 of 12 — "I was surrounded by thousands of fish that moved in synchrony because of the predation that was happening. It was an incredible experience."

National Geographic last week announced the winners in its annual photo contest. According to the contest website, they received more than 22,000 entries from amateur and professional photographers around the world.

Here's a selection of the winning images, including editors' picks, viewers' choice and honorable mentions. You can see the rest on their website.