Nature's Best Photo Winners Announced Monday

will announce the winners of the 2012 Nature's Best Winland Smith Rice International Photo Competition at a reception at Reston Community Center Lake Anne at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

The Reston-based magazine received more than 22,000 images from 46 countries this year, said Veatch, a co-author of the book The Nature of Reston. The 16 category winners will have their works displayed in an exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in D.C.

"Our competition is one of the best in the world and we have recently partnered with some folks in Japan and have formed Nature's Best Photography Japan," Veatch said. "This is a non-profit organization that was set up to celebrate nature through the art of photography as a response to the tsunami and earthquake that so devastated their country."

Veatch says that Nature's Best was formed to celebrate the beauty and diversity of nature through the art of photography, and to use this far-reaching medium as a creative tool for encouraging greater public interest in outdoor enjoyment and conservation stewardship.

The Windland Smith Rice Awards are named for Sandra Windland "Wendy" Smith Rice (1970 - 2005), who was well-known for her nature photography and conservation advocacy.