Winners of 32nd NWF Photo Contest

The winners of the magazine's thirty-second annual photography competition

AT FIRST GLANCE, it might look like the face of a male African lion peeping out from the tail feathers of a bird. But if you look closely at the photograph of a threatened female piping plover that appears in this feature, you’ll see two chicks clinging to their mother for warmth. The image, captured on film along the coast of New Jersey by architect Steve Greer, was selected by the editors as the grand prize winner of National Wildlife’s 32nd annual photography competition. Along with the 12 other prize-winning photos, it was chosen on the basis of originality, composition and technical execution. In all, readers submitted more than 4,500 photos to the contest during the past 12 months.

View a slide show of the 2002 winners.

Find out how to enter next year's contest.