Location: Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Date: December 2016
Photographer: Joanne Ash
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: Places
Award: Honorable Mention

"Antarctica is full of stark landscapes and wild-life. This shot puts the white of the snow and the black of the Gentoo penguins in vivid juxtaposition. The strong sunlight of the Antarctic summer washes out the texture of the snow, sending these well-dressed birds on a journey to seemingly nowhere."

Location: Linggu Temple, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Date: June 2017
Photographer: Heyang Long
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: Places
Award: 2nd Place

"I visited Linggu Temple, a peaceful ancient temple in Nanjing of China, on a summer night two years ago for fireflies there. By accident, I could not use my tripod that night. Then I put my camera on a slope in front of the woods with fireflies twinkling there. So here it is, a firefly dream of summer night."

Location: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Date: September 2017
Photographer: Willy Prasetya
Home Country: Indonesia
University Affiliation: Alumni
Category: Arts and Culture
Award: 1st Place and People's Choice

"Batik is an art of decorating fabric by drawing special patterns with wax and dyeing the fabric using natural coloring. Batik used to be worn only by members of the royal family, but now it has been used for fashion and daily use."

Location: India
Date: April 2017
Photographer: Zoey Lim
Home Country: Malaysia
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"I found her sitting on the street, focused on her work. I took this picture because I was intrigued by her determination, she doesn't smile nor looks up from what she was doing, and I think it made me realize that with determination you may lose sight on silly little things around you."

Location: Shanghai, China
Date: May 2016
Photographer: Haodong Zhang
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"Behind the stage: students were busy preparing for their first performance of Chicago the musical. This picture shows how several students tried to help an actor put on contact lenses. As a photographer invited to record the performance of Fudan University's musical troupe, I took this picture when I walked down the backstage to capture their preparation status. This performance was on stage in the last month of my exchange program in Fudan University, and being a photographer there is one of my best memories with the students there."

Location: Sahara Desert, Morocco
Date: August, 2017
Photographer: Ryan Schuck
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: People
Award: 3rd Place

"This is a berber from the Sahara and he lead the sunrise camel ride through the sandy dunes. I was originally trying to get the image of the camels on the dune but he just hopped in the frame. It made for a great candid image to one of my best travel memories: sunrise in the Sahara."

Location: Dali, Yunan, China
Date: August 2018
Photographer: Youyin Duan
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: Arts and Culture
Award: Honorable Mention

"Writing wishful words and wishes and hang them at the temple is a way of blessing in Buddhism. Dali, Yunnan is my hometown and many people there believe in Buddhism. Probably many people in my family have been cultivated themselves as a religious behavior."

Location: Hangzhou, China
Date: May 2018
Photographer: Kai McKinney
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: Arts and Culture
Award: Honorable Mention

"When I visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, the resident monks were celebrating Vesak, a Buddhist holiday commemorating Buddha's birthday. Chants filled the air as prayers were continually uttered throughout the day, and after asking permission to photograph, I captured a committee prayer led by monks before a stage of celebration."

Location: Morogoro, Tanzania
Date: November 2016
Photographer: Clay Sneller
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Faculty
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"Africa is the most different place I have been. I find the people, culture and the hectic, crowded cities endlessly fascinating. I take many people pictures that I use as staring points for oil paintings. Often the pictures are bad but have good face or clothes for the further art. I was sitting at a cafe, snapping bad pictures through the traffic, often to find the face I wanted was blocked by a car. But then this one happened. The pedestrians in these cities move calmly through all of the crowds, traffic, and chaos of these roads, just taking in all in stride. This picture shows the way they ignore the bustle and move in their own world."

Location: Hong Kong
Date: September 2017
Photographer: Ruixuan Peng
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Visiting Scholar
Category: Places
Award: 3rd Place

"Central District of Hong Kong has long been an economical hub of Hong Kong and even the whole Asia. Cars and buses ran along the street in a rapid speed, leaving colorful trails on the CMOS of my camera. Even at 11 pm, there were still so many cars running. I often visit this city and find its traffic very attracting."

Location: Anshan, China
Date: July 2018
Photographer: Philip Bradshow
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"Taken in my mother's home town and capturing one of the first encounters I had with my cousin Duo Mei. This trip was especially special to me because it was my first time traveling to China after my mother passed away. Seeing Duo Mei run in this alley behind the restaurant we were eating at was just a normal event - until I looked back at them. This patch of light followed her as she ran - maybe just a cloud moving with her - but I'd like to think it was more than just coincidence: God's and Mom's eyes watching us. Reminding us that we aren't forgotten."

Location: Varanasi, India
Date: January 2018
Photographer: Lopa Basu
Home Country: India
University Affiliation: Alumni
Category: Arts and Culture
Award: Honorable Mention

"I saw the gathering of children in God Shiva's costumes during the celebrations of Shivaratri (A Hindu festival in honor of Shiva), in Varanasi, India."

Location: Xiapu, Fujian, China
Date: January 2018
Photographer: Patrick Cheng
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: Places
Award: Honorable Mention

"As the fisherman rows his boat across the sand ripple lines to the seine that they planted, he enters a fish's mouth and goes through the fish's body which is naturally made from the ripple lines. It's a way that the fisherman pays respect and "feeds back" to the sea, as they eat fish in their daily lives they get "eaten" by the fish when they collect sea products from the seine."

Location: Havana, Cuba
Date: December 2017
Photographer: Kunchen Zhao
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"The taxi passed by me while I was waiting to cross the street. The girl in the car was looking outside with smile."

Location: Diepsloot, South Africa
Date: June 2015
Photographer: Grace Berichon
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"Gogo" means "Grandmother" in Zulu -- one of the 11 official languages in South Africa. During my year-long mission in South Africa, I got to know this family and their hardships. This photo was taken on film in a small, one room tin shack where the baby was sleeping. Gogo is now the guardian of the child after they lost the mother to her battle with AIDS. With limit resources, unorganized transportation, and overcrowded clinics, this story was one we heard too often. I took this photo because Gogo asked me to. People in Diepsloot do not have printed pictures of themselves, and she wanted to have one to give to her granddaughter. She was overjoyed when I returned the hard copy to her. This picture is so special to me because I got to be apart of that beautiful moment. But this picture will not just be one moment for Gogo and her granddaughter, they will look at this picture together for years to come, and remember how special there are to each other."

Location: Ise, Japan
Date: December 2017
Photographer: Shihong Fan
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: Places
Award: Honorable Mention

"This is the sunrise at the gate of Naiku, Ise Grand Shrine, this Shrine is dedicated to the sun goddess, Amaterasu, which is also the most important god in Japanese mythology. The Torii & bridge are designed to point to the position where the sun rises every day, the sun will rise at the center of the bridge & Torii on the Summer Solstice. I waited there in the morning to see this moment as well as shown my respect for the goddess, thus, I took this photo."

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Date: February 2018
Photographer: Willow Sutton
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Alumni
Category: Arts and Culture
Award: 3rd Place

"This is a portion of a wall in Graffiti Alley. "The Late Night with Seth Meyers" crew was filming at the same time for an upcoming episode a little ways down the alley. I really enjoy capturing street art, and Melbourne was the first city I visited in Australia which was extremely meaningful."

Location: Reynisfjara, Iceland
Date: May 2013
Photographer: Steven Kenworthy
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"This elderly French couple on Reynisfjara Beach in Southern Iceland caught my eye on our tour bus prior to our walk along the beach. There was something quiet and romantic about them. They held hands or arms throughout the entirety of the day and spoke little. The beach in many ways felt similar. Quiet and romantic, grey and honest. The truth is I don't think they wanted to be in the photo as the woman is looking away in each shot I captured. It just felt too right."

Location: Treasure Cay, Abaco, Bahamas
Date: April 2018
Photographer: Max Leu
Home Country: China
University Affiliation: Alumni
Category: People
Award: Honorable Mention

"This man is a villager living in one of several "Haitian Farms" on many islands in the Bahamas. The village that this man lives in was once home to acres of citrus trees owned by farmers in Florida. The villagers, Haitians that left their own country seeking better lives, were allowed to live on the land while they worked it. But when an outbreak of canker infected the crops, the owners decided that it would cost too much to start again, and they abandoned the farm, leaving all of the workers without anywhere to go. Now, they still on the farmland, but mostly in shacks with no electricity or running water. The man in this picture didn't seem to care about any of that when I saw him. He sat there happily playing his guitar while I watched him, and he gave me a toothless smile the whole time. It really was an amazing sight to see the conditions that these people lived in and to know their story and still see this old man, who had probably seen a lot of bad days in his time, still enjoy the simple things in life like playing the guitar."

Location: Falkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom
Date: May 2018
Photographer: Jennifer Morris
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Staff
Category: Arts and Culture
Award: Honorable Mention

"The Kelpies are a pair of steel horse head sculptures that were designed as a monument to the use of heavy horses in Scotland's industrial heritage and the importance of its waterways. When creating the image, I loved the contrast of the clean steel against the backdrop of Scotland's eternally moody skies."

Location: Yongle Fabric Market, Taipei, Taiwan
Date: May 2018
Photographer: Yun Lun Wu
Home Country: Taiwan
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: Places
Award: Honorable Mention

"It was a normal afternoon in the fabric market, capturing a napping shopkeeper was more astonishing than these colorful fabrics."

Location: Chamonix, France
Date: September 2011
Photographer: Geoffrey Gould
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Graduate Student
Category: Places
Award: Honorable Mention

Facebook - Mont Blanc, Mountaineers

"A team of mountaineers makes their way towards the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps. I took this photo from the top of Aiguille du Midi, a nearby mountain which is accessible via a cable car which rises from the valley in Chamonix in the southeast corner of France. Peaks in France, Italy, and Switzerland are visible from the summit.

The views from the top of the mountain are stunning, and I began taking photos as soon as I disembarked from the cable car. The incoming clouds provided unique photographic opportunities, and at times I was inside or even above the clouds. The team of mountaineers along the ridge stood out against the snow and allowed me to introduce some scale. The massive size of the mountain is as impactful as the relative smallness of the people. The fact that the climbers are tethered together made a powerful statement about teamwork while the fog which shrouds the summit introduces an element of intense foreboding. The interplay of light, shadow, snow, and clouds was very complex and I thought would suit the image to black and white treatment.

I've had a fascination with the Alps since I was very young. In 2011 when I was 29, I finally had the opportunity to visit the region and I spent two weeks doing a backpacking route which spanned over 120 miles through France and Switzerland. The route begins in Chamonix and this picture is especially meaningful to me because it was taken on the first day of my dream vacation. Being able to view the expanse of the mountains from a high vantage point helped build the anticipation for the journey I was about to undertake, and the effort of the mountaineers was inspiring."