Smithsonian.com

The results of Smithsonian‘s 7th Annual Photo Contest were announced earlier this week. The winner in the Natural World category, Hidden frog (above), was taken last September by Laurie McAndish King of Novato, California:

King was experimenting with a new camera in a local Mendocino County garden when a frog paused for a moment on the leaves of a nearby plant. She snapped; it hopped. “I’ve gone halfway around the world looking for new experiences,” she says. “This photo will always remind me of the beauty in my own backyard.”

It’s an important lesson—you don’t need to go very far to find fantastic things—and one that plays out in the photo that won the Grand Prize, Young monks from Myanmar. For the photographer, Kyaw Kyaw Winn, from Yangon, Myanmar, monks are a common sight, but he found something particularly special.

Keep looking around. If you find something interesting and manage to capture it in a photo, consider sending it in. Our 8th Annual Photo Contest runs until December 1.

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