Francisco Mingorance. On the occasion of the preparation of a report on Ríotinto from the air, I decided to include phosphogypsum ponds located in the marshes of red and whose radioactive discharges has destroyed part of the marsh. As an environmental photojournalist had to tell this story and report it but had to do with an image that by itself attract attention of the viewer. I discovered this on a low-flying training that caught my attention for its resemblance to the impact of an asteroid on its green waters

Smart's photo placed first prize in the Nature category, and was the overall winner among the three categories.

The contest was judged by National Geographic magazine Senior Photo Editor Jessie Wender, National Geographic Photography Fellow David Guttenfelder and photographer Anand Varma.

In order to determine the best photos, the judges made multiple evaluations based on creativity, photo quality, and authenticity.

Numerous honourable mentions across the three categories were also selected from the submissions, and can be seen below.