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We received thousands of entries to this year's competition, held in association with 'Wanderlust' magazine.
A wealth of spectacular destinations and dramatic encounters from around the planet were revealed in the four amateur categories: "Wildlife", "Landscape", "People" and "Icons".
The winners of each category each receive a photo commission to Jordan, courtesy of the Jordan Tourist Board, with the chance to explore a country that is a spectacular destination in its own right, with landscapes that range from the fertile Jordan Valley to remote desert canyons and haunting wildernesses.
The runners-up in each category receive Nikon D5200 digital SLR camera kits, while highly commended entrants each receive a Nikon Coolpix AW110 camera.
Image above : Careful, brother... (Kolkata, India) by Sandipan Mukherjee. "Travellers to the city may still seek out vestiges of the Kolkata of yore in the labyrinthine streets of Bagbazar. In some quaint little alley, one may even chance upon an itinerant kaan-saaf-wallah (ear-cleaner), armed with his strange array of tools, attending to a terrified customer."
Show all 12 1 /12Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Winner: Wildlife category. Lion on the run (Masai Mara, Kenya) by Angela Osborne. "These elephants were unhappy to share their territory with the Marsh pride of lions. As they chased this large male away, I panned my camera to create this image of the lion fleeing."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Winner: Icon category Pont Alexandre III (Paris, France) by Ulrich Lambert. "A long exposure night shot of the Seine and Eiffel Tower taken from the Alexandre III bridge."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Winner: People category Careful, brother... (Kolkata, India) by Sandipan Mukherjee. "Travellers to the city may still seek out vestiges of the Kolkata of yore in the labyrinthine streets of Bagbazar. In some quaint little alley, one may even chance upon an itinerant kaan-saaf-wallah (ear-cleaner), armed with his strange array of tools, attending to a terrified customer."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Winner: Landscape category Tornado cloud (Svalbard, Norway) by Andy Barnes. "I was on the bow of an Arctic expedition. We were nearing the open sea when suddenly the cloud formation appeared. As quickly as it arrived, it disappeared. I managed to take the picture but then it was gone, evaporating back into the atmosphere."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Runner-up: Landscape category Starry night at Sennen Cove (Cornwall, England) by Matthew Longworth. "A beautiful summer night in Cornwall, where the stars shine bright over the sea."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Runner-up: Wildlife category Great grey owl digging for voles (Kajanni, Finland) by Neville Turton. "These magnificent owls spend the winter here in order to find their favourite food – the vole. They sit in the trees waiting to dive into the snow to catch the voles that they can hear deep beneath. Finland in early February is a very cold place to stand motionless in the middle of a field but, having located an owl, we waited patiently together. It missed the vole on this occasion but then began trying to dig it out from the snow."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Runner-up: People category Lototo Airia and her village (Turkana, Kenya) by Ben McRae. "I had been staying in Lototo’s village for a number of days. She was a happy woman who was always attending to me even when I needed nothing at all – as long as my camera stayed in my bag. Whenever I brought it out she would freeze up and give me an unhappy stare. On my final day I asked her to pose for me as the weather was moving in, giving me a moody backdrop to the arid surrounds. Her stare though was a cold as the approaching weather front."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Runner-up: Icon category Sydney silhouette (Sydney, Australia) by Bart Brouwer. "The world-famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge on a dull winter day. A group of tourists enjoy the view while climbing along the bridge’s outer arch."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Highly commended: Wildlife category Up close and personal (South Luangwa, Zambia) by Graham Love. "He’s a mean, green, fighting machine. And this hippo was none too friendly when my guide and I, on a walking safari, disturbed him lunching on water cabbage in a pond by the Luangwa River. I used a long lens to get up close and personal… before beating a hasty retreat."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Highly commended: Icon category Peaceful life (Nan Paya temple, Bagan, Burma) by Maung Ni Oo. "The stone structure of Nan Paya temple is unique. Its decorative artworks adorn the four pillars of interior chambers, which date back to the 11th century. In the centre of the chamber is brick, devotional throne. The young monks practise their meditation there for an hour everyday, offering lights to Buddha. The lighting of candles represents the light of wisdom illuminating the darkness of ignorance. His life is peaceful world."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Highly commended: Landscape category Glacier walking (Vatnajökull, Iceland) by Lisa Mardell. "On a trip to Iceland last February I spent a few days in the Skaftafell National Park. One afternoon I was out hiking, admiring the stunning colours and shapes of the distant Vatnajökull glacier, when I saw these three people walking on it. I loved the way they helped to give a sense of scale to a section of this enormous glacier. They seem so tiny against its vastness."
Travel Photo of the Year 2013 winners Highly commended: People category Folk painter (Kolkata, India) by Kushal Gangopadhyay. "A folk painter from West Bengal seems to blend with the artwork on display in the background as she paints during Kolkata’s annual handicraft fair."
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