From The 2013 National Spelling Bee, one of 26 photos. Arvind Mahankali of New York holds his trophy after winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee at National Harbor in Maryland, on May 30, 2013. Mahankali, a 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, New York, won the competition by correctly spelling “knaidel,” a kind of dumpling. Mahankali, a student at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School, had finished third in the contest twice before. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
From Smithsonian Magazine’s 2012 Photo Contest, one of 21 photos. An onlooker witnesses the annular solar eclipse as the sun sets in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 20, 2012. Photographed by Colleen Pinski of Peyton, Colorado, for the the Natural World category. (© Smithsonian.com)
From Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012, one of 10 photos. Photographer Richard Peters sat in his car and from a distance watched the fox hunting, just enjoying the performance. He was in Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, and there was snow on the ground. The fox was listening for rodents under the snow, then leaping high to pounce down on the unsuspecting prey. It was too far away to photograph, and so when it disappeared and suddenly reappeared, on a snow bank level with the car window, Richard was taken by surprise. “It was already in pounce position, and I barely had time to lift the camera before it leapt up into the air almost clean out of my field of view. I managed to get a sequence of the leap, but I love this quirky image best, which gives a real sense of just how high these wonderful animals can jump.” (Richard Peters/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012)
