National Geographic international photography contest winners

First place winner in nature category: Shrimp in Sponge. William Goodwin, United States. This Peppermint Shrimp is spending the day in a branching vase sponge about 75 feet deep in Bonaire's Margate Bay. Lighting was achieved with an HID torch shining on the outside of the sponge. The photographer, working upside down, had to carefully control buoyancy while approaching as close as possible taking care not to touch the sponge with camera or light and avoid disturbing the shrimp or the sponge Photograph: guardian.co.uk

First place winner in people category: The Bus Stop. Debra Jansen, United States. A 97-year-old woman waits for the bus in her Sunday best in Chamblee, Georgia Photograph: guardian.co.uk

First place winner in places category: Supersize Hat. Hugo Machado, Portugal. Licancabur volcano is located on the border between Chile and Bolivia Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Honorable Mentions in the nature category: Untitled. Stefano Amirante, Italy. The picture was taken in the Mala Mala Game reserve in South Africa: a young leopard cub was lounging alone on a tree when, suddenly, a male adult leopard arrived and attacked it. The cub tried to escape jumping to another tree, but the branches were so dry that he fell to the ground. Slightly injured from the bite of the adult, the cub escaped running. Amirante was on a safari jeep when the cub fell about one meter from him Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Honorable Mention in nature category: Gentle Gaze. Yusuke Okada, Japan. A manatee photographed in Florida Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Honoourable mention in places category: Fireflies Rachel Blaser, United States. I was spending the fourth of July back in Nebraska, in the farmhouse where I grew up, and there were more fireflies that summer than I'd ever seen. I went out to the dirt road behind the house and shot this using a long exposure, just after sunset Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Honorable mention in places category: Railway House in Winter Frost. Nicola Cocco, Italy Driven by his great passion for landscaping, the winner of this category went out to the countryside as soon as he saw it was snowing. Driving around the region of Veneto, he found this abandoned train station at Feltre and was fascinated by its melancholic feel Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Honourable mention in the people category: Facing the Almighty. Arie Yudhistira, Indonesia Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Honourable mention in the people category: Untilted. Fausto Podavini, Italy The picture was shot at San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, during a local celebration called "Las Parrandas" in which the highlight is fireworks. Here children light the fireworks and escape Photograph: guardian.co.uk