This image by Shikhei Goh won the grand prize. It is called Splashing and was taken in the city of Batam in Indonesia’s Riau Islands

National Geographic has announced their 2011 global-wide photography contest. Each of the three winners will receive a cash prize, as well world-wide publication in the magazine.

Into the Green Zone, by George Tapan, captured a rainbow after the rain at the Palawan Islands in the Philippines, winning the category of Places

The winners were taken from digital submissions on three categories of people, places and nature while judged by three National Geographic photographers. The judges gave equal weight to both creativity and photographic quality when the deciding the winners.

People category winner titled The Fjellman Family, by Izabelle Nordfjell, describes in one shot, literally and physically, one method of feeding a family in northern Sweden before a long winter

These three photos were picked of respective winners in their categories, but have a look at the rest of the finalists below to see if you agree with the judges’ decision:

[Source: Daily Mail]