PLANET Magazine is pleased to announce a unique new photo contest that celebrates and explores the natural beauty and wonder of our planet. For the last four years, PLANET has held the annual This is Earth Photo Contest with top judges, prizes, and international exposure for our entrants. This spring, we're introducing This Is Earth, a new contest with a theme we feel is sure to inspire photographers everywhere.

All who are interested please send us your favorite images of the natural world – whether from your own backyard or places you've traveled to. We're interested in seeing your best shots of flowers, mountains, deserts, rivers, trees, oceans, moons, sunrises and sunsets, valleys and streams, volcanoes and skies, and a hundred other amazing aspects of our world. Not to mention the splendor of animals and birds and fish. No humans please. Just nature and animals.

The contest theme, "This is Earth", is meant to be both an affirmation and a celebration of the beauty and natural splendor of the planet that is our home. Of course, we live in uncertain times, with the spectre of climate change and environmental degradation threatening the balance of life on Earth as we know it. Our hope is to continue to create awareness and inspire change, which is part of our mission here at PLANET. We'd like to ask photographers to turn their lenses to the things in our natural world that humble and inspire them, whether a flower or a stream or a unique formation of clouds in the sky.

For this contest we have another esteemed panel of judges and larger and better prizes than ever before! In addition to awarding the top images, we also wish to create a unique and powerful photographic document of our natural world, so we'll be presenting the top 1000 images for this contest in a special online portfolio with each photographer's name listed and a link to their personal website. We also are exploring the possibility of publishing a hardcover book, however the details of this are still to be determined.

One Grand Prize winner will receive $2,000 in cash, with a minimum 10-image portfolio to be published on our website. The second place winner will receive a Leica D-Lux 5 digital camera and a portfolio of their work published in PLANET in 2012. Third and fourth place winners will each receive a liveBooks pre-Designed website or $500 credit toward a custom designed website, and a portfolio of their work published in PLANET. If you are an existing liveBooks customer you can apply the $500 towards upgrades. All photographers of top-10 images, and a selection of others, will be invited to have a limited-edition print of their image available in our online gallery, giving you the opportunity to establish your work with an audience of photo collectors and the possibility to earn money for your work.

To enter, please read the following guidelines and then click the button below to register and submit your image. Each entry contains one image. Photographers may submit multiple entries. There is a fee of $20 per entry to cover administering the contest.

All entries must be submitted as digital files through the upload feature we've provided. Photos delivered via post or email will not be accepted.

Images may be color corrected and retouched, however no photo illustrations or digitally created images will be accepted.
All photographers must hold copyright to their submitted images and will be asked to confirm as such by accepting our Terms and Conditions.

Size specifications for upload are: Between 4x6 and 8x10 at 72 dpi. Finalists will be requested individually to submit high-res images for publication. Any images that fail to upload because of being oversized, will not be refunded.

The contest runs from April 1 until May 31, 2012 (Extended Deadline June 30). All entries must be received by midnight (your time).

This year’s contest will be judged by an esteemed panel of international photography professionals and PLANET editors.

Felicia Anastasia is the owner and creative director of Anastasia-Photo in New York.
Dedicated exclusively to photojournalism and documentary photography, the gallery grew out of Felicia's commitment to objectively recording the human condition in an ever-changing world. The gallery represents photographers such as George Steinmetz, Marcus Bleasdale, Jack Picone and many other top international shooters, and endows each exhibit with a related on-site philanthropic organization.

Enrico Bossan is Creative Director at COLORS magazine. He is also founder of the photography blog, e-photoreview.com, a curator, and a photographer. His photos have appeared regularly in national and international magazines since 1985.

David Cashionis an Executive Editor at ABRAMS where he has published titles across a range of categories including projects with photographers Joseph Szabo and Lyle Owerko. He recently finished work on Commando, the illustrated, posthumous memoir of Johnny Ramone and just acquired the definitive book on the JFK Presidency in conjunction with the New York Times utilizing never-before-published imagery.  Previously he was with Penguin Books and Hyperion.

Tierney Gearon is a world-renowned photographer who works primarily in art, fashion, landscape and nature. Known for a distinctly personal style, often including her unique double exposures, her work has appeared in virtually every important photography magazine in the world, and has been shown at influential galleries including Saatchi Gallery and Yossi Milo among others. She is currently at work on two photography-based children's books, further expanding her innovative approach to the medium.

Derek Peck is Founder and Creative Director at PLANET Magazine. He is also a writer, photographer, and director who regularly contributes to the international art and fashion magazine, AnOther, in his monthly series New York Minute, as well as to various other magazines and commercial clients.

Brandon Ralph is co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at Code And Theory, an award-winning creative agency with top clients in publishing, art, consumer products, and technology. With a background in fine arts and communications, Brandon has a deep understanding of the creative process across various mediums and an abiding love and sensibility for photography.

J. Ralph is a self-taught composer, singer, songwriter and producer whose career began at 22 with signing to Atlantic Records as a recording artist. He is the founder of the award-winning production company The Rumor Mill and has written and produced the music for numerous Grammy-winning Artists, Oscar-winning films, and The President of The United States Barrack Obama. In addition to his music work, he is a photographer and collector with several of his own works featured in publications such as Newsweek, Interview, The LA Times, and NBC.

PLANET is the first and leading contemporary global culture magazine blending the latest in the arts and style with coverage of distant cultures, unique travel experiences, and environmental awareness.

PLANET's photo contests offer photographers from around the world a unique opportunity to share their vision of life, travel, and the world with our top editors and a distinguished panel of judges culled from the highest levels of New York's international photography and creative communities.