WOW what a year! 439 of you submitted 1087 photos, a 69% increase in number of submissions and an 80% increase in the number of photos from last year! This is an all-time high in the 13 years Global Programs has been running the contest.

We received submissions from all 18 schools and colleges, BU Virtual and 16 administrative offices. This year, undergraduates submitted more photos than graduates, 194-145 respectively, and BU Faculty, Staff, Alums, CELOP and BU Academy all participated.

91 countries, territories and island nations were photographed, with Italy being the most popular with 61 photos submitted, and 35 states including D.C., with 160 photos being taken right here in MA. While animals are always a popular subject, this year birds were the most popular by far! There were 50 photos submitted of birds, and coming in a distant second and third were dogs with 15 photos, and monkeys with 14.

With such a record-breaking number of submissions, and some truly amazing photographs, it was incredibly hard for the seven-member panel choosing the16 finalists. In the judged category we had 15 judges and 8 different first place choices. What they all agreed on, though, was how beautiful all the finalist pictures are.

All judging is blind; the person who submitted the photo, where it was taken (if it wasn’t obvious from the picture), and the photographer’s BU affiliation, is not known to the judges.

The People’s Choice voting also broke a record this year with 1158 people voting in the first round. We are pleased to see so much of the community engaged in the annual Global Programs photo contest. We can’t wait till next year! But first, here are this year’s winners!

Winner: People’s Choice

Winner: Judged Category

Finalists

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