WASHINGTON (Feb. 4, 2015)—Thirteen-year-old Grace Chung from Saratoga, California, has captured the grand prize of the 2014 International Photography Contest for Kids for her close-up portrait of a gecko. She has won a five-day, four-night trip to Washington, D.C., and a tour of National Geographic headquarters. The competition was conducted in partnership with the U.S. edition of National Geographic Kids magazine and 11 local-language editions.

Each edition held a national contest and submitted its first-place-winning images in four categories to National Geographic headquarters for judging for the international photo competition. The categories were Amazing Animals; Dare to Explore; Weird But True; and Wild Vacation.

The four category winners in the international contest were:

• Grace Chung, Saratoga, California, United States — Amazing Animals
• Ben Duursma, 13, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom — Dare to Explore
• Olivia Bertie, 14, Beckenham, Kent, United Kingdom — Weird But True
• Olivia Moll Pinnell, 11, Erdington, Birmingham, United Kingdom — Wild Vacation.

“More than ever, photography is a great way for people — and especially kids — to show their perspective on the world. What they produce is funny, creative and sometimes surprising, and we’re excited to see our contest grow more and more each year,” said Rachel Buchholz, editor of National Geographic Kids magazine (U.S.). “This year, we not only expanded our contest to Germany and China, but we also received the largest number of entries worldwide. It’s encouraging to see kids actively participating in the medium and engaged in the world around them.”

A total of 16,752 entries were received from Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The judges for the international contest were Buchholz; National Geographic photographer Mark Thiessen; and Jay Sumner, director of photography for National Geographic Children’s Publications.

In the U.S. competition, Chung was awarded first place in the Amazing Animals category and was named the overall U.S. winner. Twelve-year-old Jack Girton from Edina, Minnesota, placed first in the Weird But True category. Samuel Putnam, 14, from Shorewood, Minnesota, took first place in the Dare to Explore category, and 14-year-old Remadi Maple from Coulee City, Washington, was named first-place winner in the Wild Vacation category.

Chung’s grand-prize-winning image, “Gecko Eye,” as well as the images of the other U.S. first-place winners and second-place contestants will be published in the May 2015 issue of National Geographic Kids magazine.

As grand-prize winner of the U.S. competition, Chung will also receive a National Geographic Costa Rica Family Adventure. She and a guest will travel to Costa Rica where they will hike through cloud forests, swim in thermal pools, dine in a tree house and experience up-close encounters with big cats such as jaguars and ocelots at an animal rescue center. All first-place category winners in the U.S. contest will receive a 20.1-megapixel digital camera; an 8GB memory card; and copies of the National Geographic Kids books “100 Things to Do Before You Grow Up,” “Weird But True: Ripped From the Headlines,” “National Geographic Kids Cookbook” and “Mission: Polar Bear Rescue.”

To view the grand-prize-winning image and other top images from the international contest, visit natgeo.com/kids/ipc-winners.

National Geographic Kids launched in the United States in 1975 as National Geographic World magazine. There are now 17 local-language editions, the most recent being the Azerbaijani edition, which launched this month, and the Latin American digital edition, which debuted in October 2014. Other local-language editions are available in Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovenia, South Africa (Afrikaans and English), Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. National Geographic Kids has a worldwide circulation of approximately 1.7 million.