National Geographic Amateur Photo Contest

1st Prize
Choice of 11-day trip for two to Arctic Norway OR 10-day trip for two to the Galapagos Islands. Sponsored by Lindblad Expeditions.

2nd Prize
7-day Photography Workshop for one in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Sponsored by Santa Fe Workshops.

3rd Prize
6-day cruise for two on a Maine Windjammer Schooner. Sponsored by the Schooners American Eagle and Heritage.

7 Merit Prizes
* Nikon Coolpix Digital Camera
* Bogen Prize Package, including
National Geographic Tundra Monopod,
National Geographic Tundra Tripod with 3-way head
Earth Explorer Medium Shoulder Bag

Bonus Award
Your winning images will be featured in the January/February 2008 edition of National Geographic Traveler, and exhibited at the World in Focus Gallery at PhotoPlus Expo, October 18-20, 2007 in New York. All winners will also receive a one-year subscription to Photo District News. All winning images will be featured on the World in Focus Contest website, and the National Geographic Traveler website.

Entry Fees
$12 per entry

VIEW RULES AND FAQVIEW 2006 WINNERSDOWNLOAD MAIL IN ENTRY FORM (pdf)

Entry Deadline: 8/21/07
Late Entry Deadline: 9/07/07*

Learn more about the contest at the World in Focus Contest website.

To see last years winners, click HERE

Bamboo, bamboo...All the things to do with bamboo

My friend Chad Schott, of Drumzrguruven, makes his rainsticks and didgeridoos from bamboo. He cleans out the dead plants to keep a garden or a wild patch of it healthy and is fully aware of all the wonderful things it can do. I would love to see it become a greater part of our usage to replace things that don't grow as fast and don't have as much versatility.

~C.S. Webbspun

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This is part of an article from the New York Times. Click on the NYTimes to read the rest of the story.


BAMBOO is a versatile, ancient plant that shows up in creation myths as well as in pots on Manhattan terraces. It comes in clumping varieties that behave themselves and running “timber” types that spread by rhizomes — great for a grove, but not so good when they are planted as a property screen that escapes into a neighbor’s yard.

But it’s that very vigor that has environmentalists hailing bamboo as the new “It” plant for saving the earth.

Bamboo is a workhorse at sequestering carbon dioxide and pumping out oxygen. It is a tough plant that manufactures its own antibacterial compounds and can thrive without pesticides. And its porous fibers make a cloth that breathes and is as soft as silk. In fact, there is such a stampede of fabric designers to China and Japan, where it is farmed and processed — no such industry exists in the United States — that in its May issue, National Geographic predicted that “this upstart fabric may someday compete with King Cotton.”